Herald St. Gallery
March 20, 2009
In the last year I have been musing on the difference between vacationing and traveling. One who vacations goes somewhere to have an experience that is different; a departure from habitual life. The results of vacationing are predestined. Guide books result from helping the vacationer to maximize their experience of “other”.
I think that travelers do not suspend living their habitual lives - they experience that life is larger than their habitual expectations. In that sense one can be a traveler whilst living in their home/homeland. It is a matter of experiencing the day without being the center of it, without being the master of its directions, without being categorically catalogued.
I am not a vacationer. Yet, it takes “experienced me” usually about 4 days to relinquish control of my expectations. I have always been impressed passing through the boundaries of expectations. When I get to that “place” I feel as if all my senses and skills are my best guides to truly being “present”. I smile and am happy because I am a part of what seems foreign and yet is not. Today I broke through that barrier. It is not a particular place nor experience that helps me to reposition. I smile because I am happy with no discernable reason other than I seem to be able to integrate healthy sensations with a healthy attitude.
Today I went as far east as I will probably go. Art viewing was the armature upon which I hung my practice. This building is not in guide books but the spirit that it contains is a spirit that has helped me to come this far.
