Travels of A Different Sort

Travels of a Different Sort

We are all travelers of some sort, be it geographically or simply via time.  And in Chinese medicine, it is felt that our mental health is almost 50% of our body, working hand in hand with our physical health...balance.  The National Geographic series, Brain Games, has a series of simple tests for your brain and in one, how your brain constantly works in the future; it has to do this to protect you and to make sense of the world, even if the time ahead is just a tenth of a second.  This same rationale appears in this month's issue of Scientific American Mind where scientists present their winning illusions (an annual event and contest, it turns out...somehow I didn't think scientists had contests, or at least contests for fun), all courtesy of our brain.  So, our minds, it seems, are always traveling.

But physically, our travels might be more limited.  Part of this might be due to sheer physical limitations, although stories such as a blind person kayaking the Grand Canyon (as featured in this month's Men's Journal...oh, he's also climbed Everest, Denali, and all of Colorado's fourteeners) puts many of our typical excuses to shame.  Part of our physical travels might be limited simply because of money, say wanting to see the Galapagos or walk the Inca Trail but not having enough for the airfare.  But a lot of our physical travels, especially as one gets older, seems to be simple inertia...lacking the will.  It seems that we work and work and on retiring want to, well, quit working (more on retirement in a later post).  This so bothered a friend of mine that he decided to hike the length of the Camino Real, the Way, St. James, the pilgrimage...did I mention my friend is 70 and that the trail is over 500 miles long?  (you can follow his adventures at HappyTrailsPilgrim.blogpost.com).  This inertia, this wanting things handed to you on a plate, must have been bothering me for awhile since back in December of 1982, I wrote some similar thoughts.

   Suppose an alien --one highly evolved and quite friendly-- arrives while you are alone and makes you an offer to explore the universe.  You're allowed 5 minutes to make your decision and to present a list of 5 items that you want to bring along.  There is one catch, however...if you do go, you will never return to earth.  The alien smiles...the clock begins.
   Would you go?  Or would you stay?   On one hand, you would see and experience things decades, perhaps eons, ahead of others.  Yet on the other hand, you would forever leave your shared past...for all intents and purposes, you would have died on earth.
   The clock is ticking -- only 4 minutes left.  Are you going to accept or reject the offer?  10 years ago, would your decision have been any easier?  Would it be any easier 10 years from now?  And what of the list?  What 5 items would you take?  Your parents...your child?  A friend?  Your cat or dog?  Or would the items all be inanimate, say photos or a scrapbook?  A novel, a camera, a notepad and a pen?
   Time is ticking away -- less than 2 minutes remain.  Would you (should you) plan for now or 20 years (200 years?) hence?...should you take your toothbrush?  Only 1 minute remains.  Items for a lifetime, memories for a moment.
   Your list...50 seconds to go.  Time is both ally and foe.  What to take, what to leave behind?  40 seconds, no, 39 seconds.  Will your list be similar to other people's?...are there "universal" items that we, as humans, hold dear?
   The alien signals that it is time to go.  Yet how confident is your decision to go or stay?...how confident are your priorities?

Back then, that letter was my "Christmas" letter, and yes, it received many "replies."  But even now, one has to wonder how time affects our decisions and yes, our travels.  See the world or "see" the world.  Sometimes, it seems that we do miss the forest for the trees.  But sometimes, we even miss the trees, even when they're right in front of us, everyday, every night...just like the stars.