Vision is entirely a creative faculty: it uses the body and the mind as the navigator uses his instruments. Open and alert, it matters little whether one finds a supposed short cut to the Indies-or discovers a new world. Everything is begging to be discovered, not accidentally, but intuitively. Seeking intuitively, one’s destination is never in a beyond of time or space but always here and now. If we are always arriving and departing, it is also true that we are eternally anchored. One’s destination is never a place but rather a new way of looking at things. Which is to say that there are no limits to vision. Similarly, there are no limits to paradise. Any paradise worth the name can sustain all the flaws in creation and remain undiminished, untarnished.
Henry Miller / Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch
The list: USA, Italy, Spain, France, Ireland, Norway, Japan. Not an extensive list, but respectable. I still hope to add at least India to it.
Now, don’t think I’m slipping over the edge here. Just having a think is all…
In the places I’ve visited and the resources required to experience them, have any of them made me happier/a better person/more wise/etc/etc/etc, than 2426 Sherwood Drive with The Queen in my lap and a good book in my hands? The short answer: no.
To see the beauty of God’s creation and those things created by His creation is a gift and a delight. To have walked through the halls of the Sistine Chapel, to have gazed out over the Grand Canyon, to have been a total tourist and ridden the elevator to the top of Tokyo Tower—I know that I am blessed (and spoiled) to have had these opportunities. I would not trade the experiences, but to write sermons and preach the Gospel, sit with friends and play Uno, write silly blog posts, are (I was going to say “equally” as enjoyable, but..) far more enjoyable and life giving/experiencing.
My friend, Mr. Miller, said, One’s destination is never in a beyond of time or space but always here and now. If we are always arriving and departing, it is also true that we are eternally anchored. One’s destination is never a place but rather a new way of looking at things.
In this life, your destination is where you are at this very moment. You can choose the place where you will experience those moments, but the place is not your life. The place is the backdrop.
The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.
Ecclesiastes 12:13-14
Candle in a Cave 