From today’s daily inspiration:
“To journey without being changed is to be a nomad.
To change without journeying is to be a chameleon.
To journey and to be transformed by the journey is to be a pilgrim.”
The Book of Awakening, Mark Nepo
How many times do we move through the events of our life without really noticing them? That is the nomad in us. How many times do we spend time inside our thoughts without noticing what is going on with others? That is to be the chameleon.
Our challenge is to be aware of ourselves and others as we move through life. Mark Nepo uses the example of attending the symphony. We attend the symphony, and notice the whole of it. We hear every instrument and how they sound together. But eventually, our interest focuses on one instrument that we are drawn to. And eventually we are thinking about the effects that instrument has on our Spirit. We go inward.
We all do this. All the time. And so it is our task to bring ourselves back to the whole of the symphony. To truly experience the entire event. To bring the outer event inward, and then to move outward again. That is to live like a pilgrim.