Onward travel.

“Traveling is a fool's paradise. Our first journeys discover to us the indifference of places. At home I dream that at Naples, at Rome, I can be intoxicated with beauty, and lose my sadness. I pack my trunk, embrace my friends, embark on the sea, and at last wake uo in Naples, and there beside me is the stern fact, the sad self, unrelenting, identical, that I fled from. I seek the Vatican, and the palaces. I affect to be intoxicated with sights and suggestions, but I am not intoxicated. My giant goes with me wherever I go.”

– Ralph Waldo Emerson, 'Self-Reliance'

At the beginning of March 2013, I will move on again.

My stay in England continues to be enlightening, but the journey continues. Being here is part of it. As I sit Zazen, planes roar over my head, each one calling me. 

To where?

The mountains of Southern Spain for a 3 day intensive retreat, focused on enlightenment, with my teacher Daizan Rosh. Lisbon. Tarifa. Morocco. Menorca. Mallorca. Ibiza.Tokyo and Kyoto. An overwhelming instinct calls me to visit Japan. The old streets and their unique tiny cafes. Perhaps a pilgrimage. 88 temples. Santiago. Cambodia is a possibility for next winter, an invite is already in. Can I resist a region of the world that is 95% Buddhist?

What do I long for? 

Mountains. Beautifully silent, crisp, bare, mountains. Long hikes to high altitudes, followed by long downhill runs.

Temples. The swish of robes. The refreshment of pre-dawn rising. The peace and the scent of incense. Monasteries too. Daily ritual and focus. A deeper practice.

Oceans. Roaring, white crested deep oceans, surfing the curl again, as I did for so many years. Shallow coastal bays too. Distance swimming in warm, turquoise waters. Freediving into the cool depths offshore. 

To go deeper. Deeper into life. Searching for true meaning. Not because I think it's out there, but because the people I meet as I travel, and the things I learn, all help me find the pointers along the way.

What will I find, wherever I go? 

In the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson, I will find my giant. 

My true nature. The very fabric of life, the universe. And when I find it, I shall keep on going.