Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost...

I came across the Holstee Manifesto poster at work and on a friends Facebook wall recently. I quite like it as it is simply say, logical and rational. I liked the line 'travel often, getting lost will help you find yourself'. But my version is a bit different.

'Wander often, getting lost will help you find yourself'. Only because you don't always plan to wander, and you can wander anywhere, in a jungle or your house, or your mind! Discussing these thoughts with my dear friend Saff, she questioned me, 'When you wander do you have to be physically transported? Or do you just lose yourself in a moment like a Sufi does?'. And so on a lazy feverish Friday (weather blues!), I replied to her ...!

'I have wandered to places unknown, To unnamed streets, to houses incomplete, To the woods pathless, to the seas boundless, I have wandered for days looking for you, Yet you remain nameless I have wandered to the depth of my soul, To the highest intellect of my mind, To the strongest emotions of my heart, I have wandered in and out of myself, Looking for you,

Yet you remain nameless

Under the scorching heat of shams, In the wild winds of shamal and the gentler zephyr, In the silence of my soul, In the noise within my silent mind, I wander ... Don't mistake me for I am not searching. I am not seeking for you, this is not a purpose, For if I do find you, there will be no purpose. If the streets are named, If the woods discover a path, If the seas find a boundary,

If the mind understands its genius, If the soul discovers its grandeur, If the heart knows its power, It will have known all.

And the beauty of wandering is in not knowing. For when one knows, it is all taken for granted, It's value lost, it's purpose consumed.'

To sum it, an extract from Albert Einstein's essay, 'The world as I see it' says it all:
'The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science. Whoever does not know it and can no longer wonder, no longer marvel, is as good as dead, and his eyes are dimmed.'

Wander often, getting lost will help you find yourself, but ... not all those who wander are lost. Such is life's beautiful paradox, if you seek to wander, and not wander to seek. :)