When we think of the word TRAVEL, our first thought may be of the many journeys we have made in our lives, spending hours or days on the road, or the great distances we have travelled by aeroplane, or the foreign and distant lands we have visited, explored or lived in for some time.
Etymologically, the word journey derives from via, and its most immediate meaning is the experience of movement, of passing from one place to another, of departing towards a destination: a route, a journey, one step after another, kilometre after kilometre, day after day, discovering new places, not necessarily different, but certainly different from our home.
The experience of movement and travel, from a certain point of view, are among the most profound and archetypal of human nature: there are forms of life that remain stationary in the place where they are rooted (plants), while many others (animals) manifest their vital essence in movement, in the ability to move from one place to another, flying, jumping, running, crawling or walking.
From a microscopic and macroscopic point of view, inanimate matter is actually in motion, because infinitely tiny atoms contain the movement of electrons, and the enormous planet Earth moves in an orbit around the Sun, and the entire solar system moves in an orbit around the galaxy, and even the galaxy moves in an expanding universe.
Even though we don’t realise it, at this very moment as we sit, lie or stand, we are actually moving at an incredible speed: just due to the Earth’s rotation, its latitudes rotate around the planet’s axis at more than 1000 km/h. While the Earth revolves around the Sun at 100,000 km/h, the solar system in turn revolves with the galaxy at 792,000 km/h, and the galaxy travels through the universe at a speed of 3 million 600,000 km/h.
This is how we are, passengers on this planet that has been travelling for over 4 billion 57 million years and will continue to do so for many more years to come. The force of gravity is so strong that we do not notice it, even though it is not strong enough to prevent us from moving freely on the surface of our planet. In other words, we are ‘travelling’, even if we do not want to, even if we do not see it or admit it.
Movement, travel and following a path have been part of human nature since migration was a necessity for survival in the search for food and resources.
It is therefore not surprising that life itself is intimately linked to the concept of Travel and that the ‘meaning of life’ that many seek is therefore the direction of our journey. There is always a starting point and there will inevitably be a destination, where the journey will end, but what lies in between is the experience of the journey, which is our whole life!
Human history and culture often refer to the Journey, and many of the most famous stories about travel have become symbols and archetypes of life: think of the Exodus of the Jewish people described in the Bible.
Like a great migration, an escape from slavery and the search for freedom and independence, it has become a metaphor for a great crossing, a great transformation, a way out (often complicated and challenging) from a difficult situation. travellers and explorers have sailed the seas, crossed mountains, travelled long distances, discovering new worlds, encountering peoples, cultures, histories, traditions and ways of life that are different, new and previously unimaginable: this is what the Journey is for, to surprise us, considering that there is a huge universe to explore.
And the Journey cannot only be physical; our mind, spirit and soul can also travel to places ‘different’ from material reality, to subtle and spiritual levels.
Collectively, as humanity, we are constantly changing, but those who have felt the call to work on themselves, who are already questioning the ‘meaning’ of their lives, who want to change direction because they feel or sense that they have a different destiny to find, are certainly in a very special moment of transition.
The ‘Hero’s Journey’ proposed by Joseph Campbell represents the archetypal meaning of the Journey and of life itself: through 12 archetypes representing the fundamental steps of life, it allows us to rediscover the values and qualities to be integrated, for personal growth, in the path of discovery and experience of life in all its possibilities and at all its levels.
Each of us is a hero, because life itself begins heroically, with the journey of a single cell, the sperm that successfully reaches the distant goal of the egg, and there a new life begins: to be a hero, you just need to want to live, take the first step and walk.
Of course, going on the Journey means preparing yourself, leaving your home and family, setting off with Confidence, Autonomy, Strength and Understanding, and inevitably encountering the dragon, seeing it, recognising it and overcoming it.
Life is a Journey, made up of passion, search, construction and deconstruction, and when you return, don’t just return home. May you find your ‘Kingdom’ with Sovereignty, Wisdom, Magic and Madness because you know that, in the end, it’s all a *game and everyone will return to the same box!
* "No fim do jogo, o rei e o peão voltam para a mesma caixa!" provérbio italiano
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Adaptação do texto: Jaqueline Cássia de Oliveira Psicoterapeuta Familiar Sistêmica (Brasil) Psicogenealogista (Itália) Fonte: Umberto Carmignani Città Della Luce - Ripe - Itália