I am an incorrigible adventurer/traveler. It is the pattern that best describes my adult life. I have lived in 8 states and have been in every one of the lower 48. I have traveled across the country dozens of times, in a car, bus, or train. I have been to several countries in Europe and in Latin America. Still, I feel a bit sheepish about traveling full-time, living in my RV. Should I have outgrown this by now? Should I settle down in one place and be a real grown-up?  Is this urge to see it all, explore it all pathological?

In modern times, psychologists have defined the” traveler” as a personality type. Joseph Campbell described the “Hero’s Journey”, which calls a person out of the ordinary world into one of travel and adventure. After an immense struggle and with the help of a mentor, the traveler reaches a special place geographically and internally, finding wisdom and understanding and/or saving his/her people from evil.  It this seems familiar, that is because it is a theme found in most movies and novels.

Jungian psychologists often describe a persistent traveler as the “Explorer”. Their life motto is “Don’t fence me in” Their basic need is to have the freedom to find out who they are by exploring the world. They search for a better, more authentic, more fulfilling life. Their biggest fear is getting trapped and being forced to conform. Their life is spent journeying, seeking out, and experiencing new things. Boredom is a big issue! Other terms for the Explorer are the seeker, iconoclast, wanderer, individualist, pilgrim.

Joseph Campbell, Jungian practitioners, and many others confirm that our desire to explore, seek, and understand is normal. Some people are simply hardwired in this way. So, I do not need to be embarrassed that I am the poster child for the explorer archetype. Rather, I wish I had more proactively pursued a mobile lifestyle.

So, if we are not pathological, what is it we “get” from our mobile lifestyle. I believe that some of us literally travel to feed our soul. Can you relate to the satisfaction of just traveling, on a plane, in a vehicle, even on a bike? Sometimes the act of traveling is all it takes to nourish or fill the empty soul. How about the joy felt when walking in a foreign city with chaotic visual stimulation? The sound of unknown foreign languages? The breathtaking awe felt when viewing natural landscapes? While some people fill their souls and recharge their batteries by reading, creating, and even just resting, some of us must be on the move, seeing everything to be seen, hearing the sound of every creek, tasting the food of every culture.

Most people can scratch the travel itch and receive it’s soul-filling benefits while keeping a home base. A good friend of mine takes a  20-mile motorcycle ride each night, from Spring until Fall He stops at an old-fashioned ice-cream stand for a cone, then heads home. Remember the “Sunday Drive”? I know some seniors who still take long drives around, looking at the scenery. It is the thrill of their week, and they talk excitedly about each drive. Many folks are satisfied with vacations spent traveling, perhaps visiting national parks, museums, or baseball fields and then going home. My mom says she found renewal and restoration in the outlying parks. She even wrote a poem called “Favorite Place”, a location in the country where likes to just stand and look at the butterflies. Once she ventured further into that favorite place to mourn the loss of a friend. Soul tending travel into a peaceful place.

However, some of us must travel full time. Author Rita Goldman and many others have traveled the world for decades. Full-time RV travelers increase in number every day, in the US. Europeans call it “caravaning”, and its popularity is growing as well. Thanks to modern research, we need not worry about outgrowing this urge or feel pressured to settle down into a boring routine. We are just one of many personality types. So, go get your maps and apps and carry on!

Next Sunday: traveling tales from world scriptures and spiritual storytelling.

Note: I will post  Sunday reflections in my new blog section: Back Roads Faith.

Copyright: Rev. Jane Willis, Aug 2016