Here and there

My 20-some son, Zachary, was home for the holidays and wondered outloud whether this small place, albeit in the middle of paradise, has enough to offer the soul and the intellect to grow.

At times, I wonder that same thing.

But what is it about any place that offers the opportunity for the soul and the intellect to grow?

Does one have to be on pilgrimage to the center of spiritual existence, as in Konya, Turkey, as thousands of spiritual beings congregate to celebrate Rumi’s Sherb-i-rus, his death day, and wedding with the Beloved to experience a heart opening that is lasting?

Maybe. One would hope so, if you were on pilgrimage to Konya.

But what about your return? How does one utilize the experience to keep on living on the edge of spiritual and intellectual growth?

I don’t know.

But what I do know is that we are adaptive beings. We change. Life changes us and when we see a pattern that somehow becomes meaningful it makes a difference. A lasting difference, I think.

My friend Suzanne thinks differently.

When I told her about my immersion experience for two weeks in Turkey and how it seemed that a variety of old stories became transformed with different endings, she told me that my experience of completion would not last.

“Sorry,” she said, “they will come back again. At least that is my experience,” she added as a caveat that maybe she could be mistaken.

“What are friends for,” I told her, “but to remind us that while we might think we have learned something once and for all, it might not really turn out that way."

Still, I like the idea that the group of 16, who traveled to Turkey on pilgrimage, are somehow different and transformed from our adventures and experiences there.

I certainly couldn’t have had the same experience if I had stayed at home in this piece of paradise. And it is heartening to know that I came and went from here. As I will do, again and again.