People have traveled throughout the ages,for many reasons,but never to the extent of nowadays.Now one might think this is just because the technology(specifically airplanes) has gotten so much better but actually the reason is much more insidious than that.Travel has become a cult-a form of worship, the highest order of activity that man can aspire to.So when I say,i am retiring a lot of people say”Are you going to be traveling?” My answer is emphatic on that point: “No! Only if there is a good reason.I did that when I was younger and had the time to apply whatever learning I got from the travel.As an exercise in entertainment, I will take a pass”
Allan Bloom,the American philosopher from the University of Chicago, wrote a book in the eighties called”The Closing of the American Mind”.In it was a chapter entitled “From Travel to Tourism”. This title summarizes the whole problem.Traveling, that used to have a specific purpose to it, had now become a consumer item. It is promoted by”The Tourism Industry” that is one of the largest industries in many countries.This encourages people to travel as a form of entertainment, much as they go to the cinema or perhaps even more aptly as they go to the circus.I remember my own parents,may Allah forgive them for their misdeeds and reward them for their good ones, caught up in this maelstrom.”So what did you learn ,Dad?” I would ask him after his trip to Mexico.”Oh there were beautiful ruins and ,even better,the price of food was so much cheaper”.I see” I thought.”So you spent $2000.00 to save $1 on a loaf of bread” I thought, without saying it out loud.
I am ,of course,oversimplifying but the point is well taken,nevertheless.I remember the young Americans in Europe “doing” countries’! “Wow,we did 12 countries in 13 days” they would say .Impressive!The most ” impressive’ travellers I met were the Australians and New Zealanders.They would go traveling for years( ‘chronic travellers’ I called them) with the justification that they were so far away that they might never get the chance again.I had never seen people in such a deplorable state(outside of U.S. slums) in my entire life!They looked haggard,miserable,alienated.And they seemed completely unaware of their state! They were convinced,like the proverbial donkey chasing the carrot, that their next destination would bring them happiness! Rome,that’s not where it’s at. But Florence,that’s where I’ll discover glory.Italy, pfff! Greece is the place to be etc.,etc.Hedonism,all over again and doomed to failure as always.
Of course,there are valid reasons to travel.Visiting family members(although the reason relatives are often so far away is part of the modern dysfunction),studying a subject one needs to know about,spending time with a spiritual teacher,helping refugees,peace-keeping missions,pilgrimage etc.Yes,there are valid forms of travel.But they need to be purposeful not spurious.And much travel nowadays is of the latter sort.
I remember one of the first forms of the traveling bug that I found interesting.They were Québecois people(we called them French Canadians in those days lol).Instead of ‘doing’ as many countries as they could or catching some rays of sunshine in a southern destination for a week to escape from the doldrums of their life in Canada,they would take off the winter and spend it in one place-like Mexico for example.They would then rent an apartment(this was before Airbnb!) and learn the local cooking,study the language and try to mix with the people there.They came away with some real learning and expansion of consciousness.Far different from The American Tourist.
My first trip overseas was to Europe.I was conceiving of the ’10 countries in 5 weeks’ kind of imbroglio when the absurdity of it dawned on me.It started as a vague sense of alienation.I looked at my friend Alan(we were both taking a break from med school at the time) and said:”This is not the right way to do it,Alan.Let’s make this into a learning experience.”We were quite compulsive at the time. So we decided we were going to make it into a history of art course.And it worked! I immediately felt a sense of relief. Our trip had become purposeful.And I never forgot the art I learnt about on that trip.
In the spiritual tradition that I practice,Islamic Sufism,wasting time(‘lawh’ in Arabic) is prohibited.We are here for a purpose and that is our contract on Earth.We have the right ,even the obligation,to rest and relax,But we do not have the right, which has now become a social norm, to waste time and frame our lives around good times and recreation.That is the way of “loss” in our tradition.Think about it! Salaams,Ibrahim
