the travel bug again

Question of the Week:

I've got the travel bug again. I just got back from six months backpacking in Europe, and a week after landing I feel the need to plan the next trip. I seem to never get enough of it. Am I crazy?



Answer:

Your urge to travel is coming from a place deep within. There is a yearning in your soul to move on and change scenery. But this yearning will not be quenched by travelling overseas. It is a spiritual yearning to move higher in your inner life.

Souls cannot tolerate stagnation. They are always on the move. Our soul constantly yearns to grow, develop, learn, give, and reach higher. Our soul is never satisfied with the achievements of the past, it is always looking for the next challenge, the next obstacle to overcome or lesson to learn. It wants to explore new vistas, transcend its current horizons and trek towards a new level of reality.

This is why we find that as soon as things settle down in our lives, we feel the itch to do something more. So some people spend their entire lives moving around - switching jobs, moving house, ending relationships and beginning new ones, travelling from one side of the globe to another - never settling in one place for too long. They are convinced that the next move will bring them happiness and fulfilment. But it never does. Because the one thing they never change is the one thing that they truly yearn to change - themselves.

We can learn a lot by travelling to new countries. But if as soon as you come back from a trip you want to plan the next one, it is your soul calling out, not for another travel adventure, but for a spiritual adventure. It is not the scenery around you that needs a change, it is the scenery within you that needs updating. You don't need to move your body, you need to move your soul.

What you truly seek is an itinerary of inner travel. Learn something new about yourself, resolve to work on a character flaw that deserves attention, volunteer to help someone who needs you, start reading a book that will bring meaning to your life, take on a new spiritual practice.

This is the journey you need to embark upon. You don't need to go anywhere. You just need to look within. When you make an internal change for the better, your whole world changes with you.

Good Shabbos,

Rabbi Moss