I’ve been re-reading Peter Hessler’s book about China, River Town – Two Years on the Yangtze, a memoir/travelogue of his time as a Peace Corps volunteer in Sichuan province in the 1990s. Travellers like Hessler are our most spirited mentors as they intrinsically understand that the enlightening experiences of being on the road come to us only when we “make ourselves available”. He writes of being patient, developing trust, allowing things to happen, accepting invitations without suspicion of intention and, of great importance, not expecting to control every situation.
From my own experience, the interactions we have with others as we travel can be mutually beneficial. It is not simply Rick who benefits. Once we become too self-cherishing, we tend to grasp at our own happiness and gratification. Yet the traveller with an open heart and non-attachment to his own needs creates the marvelous opportunity for the "hosts" we encounter during our travels to likewise benefit from the experience. These shared experiences create a deeper understanding of commonality within diversity.
Kanai Das, the Indian poet-philosopher, writes that the world is his home. “When you walk, you are freed from the worries of ordinary life, from the imprisonment of being rooted in the same place. Wherever I am, that is my home.”
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