“Men go abroad to wonder at the heights of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long course of the rivers, at the cast compass of the ocean, at the circular motions of the stars, and they bypass by themselves without wondering.”
-St. Augustine
We know the famous American pioneers such as Daniel Boone and Davey Crokett from history class as those who left their homelands to discover unknown and unsettled territory. Pioneering is in our ancestral DNA discovering new lands and new places.
Lessor known or realized are the ordinary pioneers like you and I who garner the energy of the pioneer, called to discover not just external landscapes, but the internal landscape of our soul and sense of purpose. As a kid, we think about the destination we are going and what we will conquer. As an adult, we begin to ask the questions, “Where do I journey? What path does it take me?” We begin to step into fresh new territory as we mature. There is always this sense of something that remains undiscovered, which can be more a curiosity than a burden.
The energy of the pioneer seeks to discover, not necessarily landing a certain outcome. There is a need and a calling to be walking in an undiscovered area. We say, “This is where I am compelled to walk. It’s less important where it goes.” We are embued by the qualities of exploration, curiosity, and humility, the need to start again. Every moment is a new initiation, new beginning, new breath.
How often, however, do we allow ourselves to shift, change, float, and flow into something new? We have the should’s-“You should be settled by now. You should stick with one career, one person, one place, one idea.” Yet there is an unsettling feeling, a need for something else, something fresh, something new. We are inspired.
There comes a time when the journey stops being about the external and cerebral to becoming quiet, deep and internal. Instead of acting on thoughts and ideas, it means sitting with it, allowing it to percolate, and trust that something will emerge that in this moment we do not know what it actually looks like. If every single moment is a new opportunity to discover, the question then becomes, how is it then I can be more present?
As a pioneer on a quest to discover, even by doing nothing, I can in fact step into new and undiscovered territory. This is then the ultimate paradox: just by sitting in this state of quietude and complete presence, I am on undiscovered land.
