further thoughts on the space between
Usually, the space between places is meant to be the quickest, safest and most convenient route one could take. If the point of the trip is to get from A to B, this is understandable. But how much wonder do we miss by getting from point A to B? Isn't there more to life than getting from point A to B?
I've heard it quoted many times, that "the journey is the destination". I don't know who first coined that phrase, but there is a lot too it. (I guess that's why many cliche's become cliche). There is something that is meant to take place within the heart of the traveler between point A and B.
I'm told the journey between the Red Sea and the Promised Land should have only taken three weeks at best. Instead, it took forty years. I guess getting from point A to B wasn't God's primary agenda.
I discovered the word, "flâneur". It has the basic meanings of "stroller", "lounger", "saunterer", "loafer"—which itself comes from the French verb flâner, which means "to stroll". Charles Baudelaire developed a derived meaning of flâneur—that of "a person who walks the city in order to experience it".
A flaneur would not be someone whose primary objective would be to get from point A to point B in the most timely manner. Instead, a flaneur would most likely get carried away, unafraid of getting lost or keeping to a strict schedule. A flaneur would experience the space between places and drink in the perspectives most of us never see. There are entire worlds in the space between places most of us never even think to glimpse.
I've heard it quoted many times, that "the journey is the destination". I don't know who first coined that phrase, but there is a lot too it. (I guess that's why many cliche's become cliche). There is something that is meant to take place within the heart of the traveler between point A and B.
I'm told the journey between the Red Sea and the Promised Land should have only taken three weeks at best. Instead, it took forty years. I guess getting from point A to B wasn't God's primary agenda.
I discovered the word, "flâneur". It has the basic meanings of "stroller", "lounger", "saunterer", "loafer"—which itself comes from the French verb flâner, which means "to stroll". Charles Baudelaire developed a derived meaning of flâneur—that of "a person who walks the city in order to experience it".
A flaneur would not be someone whose primary objective would be to get from point A to point B in the most timely manner. Instead, a flaneur would most likely get carried away, unafraid of getting lost or keeping to a strict schedule. A flaneur would experience the space between places and drink in the perspectives most of us never see. There are entire worlds in the space between places most of us never even think to glimpse.
How funny. In college I wrote a paper on the concept of flaneurism. I wanted to be one. I think I'm on the right path...no pun intended. hah
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