On cities, borders, and why we travel
Diary entry from September 18, 2022, sitting under the Himalayas in Old Manali, India
In our cities, we surround ourselves with lines and borders. This is my room, and this is yours. This is my house, and this is yours. This is my street, my office. When we go out, this is our neighbourhood; this is public property, and this is private. We exist with well-understood boundaries, and we confine ourselves within them to live peacefully.
Well then. When do we get to feel our divine self, the vast emptiness, the human spirit that cannot be defined by lines and borders? When can we sit under a mountain that makes us feel infinitesimal by measure? When can we sit with nature to be reminded that every moment, life is coming from you, it just is, it just exists — without the need for definition, explanation or borders?
This is why we must escape from our cities and all the structures we build within them — physical and mental. We must go away from our cities to be reminded that we are the ones who define these boundaries — lest we let them start defining us. We must leave to return to our true selves — that which is ever-present outside our borders.
This is why travel is essential; this is why change is necessary. It does not help us ‘discover’ ourselves — it merely reminds us of who we are.
We must go away to be reminded that we are alive every moment, and that which is alive cannot be defined or contained in the borders of explanation and logic. It can only be felt. It can only be observed, just like the breeze can only be felt by sitting at the riverside. You can talk about it later, but it cannot be passed on by definition.
