More and more people worldwide are living in countries not considered their own. Writer Pico Iyer — who himself has three or four “origins” — meditates on the meaning of home, the joy of traveling and the serenity of standing still.
“Travel, for me, is a little bit like being in love, because suddenly all your senses are at the setting marked “on.” Suddenly you’re alert to the secret patterns of the world.” – Pico Iyer
Mr. Iyer reflects on the world we live in today. He talks about how the cultural melange, the global interaction that travelers crave, exists in our communities around the world – in “stillness”. As he puts it, “…I began to think that really, movement was only as good as the sense of stillness that you could bring to it to put it into perspective.” As a Canadian, born in Pakistan, spent my childhood growing-up between 2 continents, worked and volunteered in 4, married to a European, traveled to over 37 countries, I kind of see Mr. Iyers point. Why is it not surprising that the concept of home for me is related to my present coordinates pointing to a vague virtual geographic location? What Mr. Iyer says is, “Where you come from now is much less important than where you’re going… And home, we know, is not just the place where you happen to be born. It’s the place where you become yourself.”
So what does it mean for me, and others, who thrive when in “movement”? Movement as Mr. Iyers states is a “fantastic privilege. But movement, ultimately, only has a meaning if you have a home to go back to.”
I suppose a silent retreat could do some good as, “home, in the end, is of course not just the place where you sleep. It’s the place where you stand“, and I feel that deserves some deep thought.
Enjoy the video and travel well.
[youtube height=”500″ width=”800″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m6dV7Xo3Vc[/youtube]
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