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Week 34 Journey and Destination

What exactly is my Life about?

Through decades of seeking I come across proposals like,

“The Journey Is The Destination”
and
“The Path Is The Goal”.

Such clever-sounding witticisms. No wonder I am confused.

Why can’t the Journey be what it is – the Journey, and the Destination be what it is – the Destination?

Why isn’t the Path the Path? Why can’t the Goal be the Goal?

If my Journey is my Destination, I am already here.
Should I bother going anywhere?

If my Path is my Goal, I am on the Path whether or not I set Goals.
Why do I bother setting Goals?

I no longer subscribe -
Neither clever-sounding witticisms
Nor those who spew them.

The Journey is Not The Destination. The Path is Not the Goal.

The Journey is The Journey.
The Destination is The Destination.
The Path is The Path.
The Goal is The Goal.

The Journey is Important.
The Destination is Important.
The Path is Important.
The Goal is Important.

Each of these:

Journey
Destination
Path
Goal

is Unique Unto Itself
and
A Dimension of Totality.

I will no longer compromise the Totality of Existence.

This was written by Jane Chin. Posted on Sunday, October 12, 2008, at 9:43 am. Filed under BLISS EXPT. Bookmark the permalink. Follow comments here with the RSS feed. Trackbacks are closed, but you can post a comment.
  • http://www.theandysan.com TheAndySan

    Interesting post, Jane! It’s like a poem.

    TheAndySan
    http://www.theandysan.com

  • Jane Chin

    Thank you, TheAndySan.

  • Jane Chin

    I’ve already encountered some challenges about this post. For example, the origins of why one would equate one with the other.

    For example, I understand how focusing on the journey can be helpful to alleviate a fixation on the destination. Then call it as it is – focus on the journey, free up a degree of fixation on the destination – strike that balance.

    This is an excellent example of what I’m aiming to do – call things as they really are, so I can acknowledge what is really binding me. At this point in my life, I find it more productive to remind myself to put “goal” in the proper context and put “path” in the proper context, and know where my perception limitations may arise.

    For the past 8 months or so, I’ve been telling myself that “the path is the goal” and “the journey is the destination”.

    I have found that these have been as “helpful” as being addicted to achieving goals or fixating only on the end. I can’t grow by tricking myself with words.

    What I ended up with is a stream of consciousness that feels fabulous for a moment, but falls short of fulfillment or completion.

    It was also suggested that this writing is very “left brained”. Personal interpretation is always truth to the person interpreting anything. I, on the other hand, see both my right brain and left brain at work in this writing.

    There is a reason why I have a “right brain” and a “left brain”. I love my right brain as much as my left brain. Both are here to serve me in different ways, both are essential to my full experience as a human being.

  • http://eldietario.com Miguel de Luis

    Sometimes the path is a goal on itself. I found that dieting. You need to achieve your habits before you start getting results, and then you, eventually, will get them. That’s how I interpret “the goal is the path”, which maybe it’s just a wacky thing of mine :)

  • Jane Chin

    @ Miguel de Luis:

    Thanks for sharing, Miguel.

    I know that the equation, “path = goal” is used to help a person take the focus off the goal (1 point) and focus on the path (>1 point or many points). As you have used the example of dieting, focus on the habits and the results will naturally come.

    The goal determines the nature and direction of the path.

    I’ve found that the “popular spiritual culture” today has vilified the idea of a goal or a destination – saying that it is “too Western” or “too left-brained”. As a result, there is a swing to the other extreme, where all the focus is only on the path or the journey with little regard for the goal or destination.

    The danger in forgetting why you embarked on a journey in the first place (i.e. forgetting the goal) is that you may be swayed off course and not realize that you are no longer on your own path.

  • http://www.annhandley.com Ann Handley

    Each piece is critical, isn’t it?

    Thanks for this, Jane.

  • Jane Chin

    Each piece really IS critical, Ann.

    Thank you for understanding.

  • Kintyy

    life is a creative experience, here you have made a tentative ‘non creative’ step – being non creative is creative – asking questions is creative too.  good on you! :)