Maverick Philosopher

Footnotes to Plato from the foothills of the Superstition Mountains

Travel and the Indifference of Places

Malcolm Pollack writing from Ha Long Bay, near Hanoi, Vietnam:

. . . mainly I’m writing just now to note how little enthusiasm I have for travel these days. I’ve been all over the place in my lengthening life (I’ll be 69 in April), and more and more it seems to me that every place is, well, just some other place, and that gallivanting around is increasingly just exhausting and distracting. The world outside seems increasingly finite in comparison to what can (and should) be explored within — and once you’ve scratched the youthful itch of restlessness the trick, I think, is just to find someplace you like well enough, and to make yourself at home.

I could not agree more.  

You may enjoy Three Reasons to Stay Home.

Of travel I've had my share, man. I've been everywhere.

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Bill Vallicella

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4 responses to “Travel and the Indifference of Places”

  1. Vito B. Caiati Avatar
    Vito B. Caiati

    Bill,
    I did indeed enjoy reading “Three Reasons to Stay Home,” and I endorse the Emersonian, Pascalian, and Vallicellian reasons for doing so.
    Yes, Emerson “borrowed from the Roman Stoic Seneca,” specifically his letter XXVIII, “On Travel as a Cure for Discontent,” which contains such discerning lines as the following:
    “Are you surprised, as if it were a novelty, that after such long travel and so many changes of scene you have not been able to shake off the gloom and heaviness of your mind? You need a change of soul rather than a change of climate.[1] Though you may cross vast spaces of sea, and though, as our Vergil[2] remarks, ‘Lands and cities are left astern,/your faults will follow you whithersoever you travel.’”
    And:
    “Do you ask why such flight does not help you? It is because you flee along with yourself. You must lay aside the burdens of the mind; until you do this, no place will satisfy you.”
    The entire letter in translation can be found on the weblog The Stoic Letters: https://thestoicletters.com/seneca-letter-xxviii-on-travel-as-a-cure-for-discontent/
    Vito

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  2. Michael L Avatar
    Michael L

    Thank you for sharing Mr Pollack’s comments and the excellent “Three Reasons to Stay Home” which I loved at the time and again today. I wholeheartedly agree, having reached the same conclusions in my late 40’s though not as well-articulated as here. Slightly earlier than Malcolm but still beyond the optimism of youth and well into middle age.

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  3. BV Avatar
    BV

    Thank you, gentlemen.
    Emerson borrowed from Seneca, and now I see that Seneca borrowed from Vergil.

    Reply
  4. Jeff H Avatar
    Jeff H

    Bill,
    I wholeheartedly agree with the 3 reasons. I knew countless people who traveled in vanity to find themselves when I was coming of age.
    The best reason to travel now is to visit the Sonoran Desert!
    Cheers,
    Jeff H

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