A journey can be defined as a process of moving towards a certain point. Human life is also characterized as a continuous movement. Therefore, the concept of journey is very close to our lives. The questions related to searching for the sense of life and exploring the nature of existence are regarded as the ones that all human beings were looking the answers for since the beginning of the history. The process of discovering the nature of the being can be considered a journey with the ultimate point that is difficult to be reached.
However, the process of such spiritual journey can help the person to gain the priceless knowledge about human life. Besides spiritual journey, physical journeys also contribute to the person’s ability to judge the objective reality in a proper way, as they help to look aside the everyday routine and promote the ability to see ordinary things in a different way. Analyzing the benefits of the processes of spiritual and physical journeys helps to reveal how they help the person to explore the nature of existence.
Any attempt to focus on spiritual experience and explore the sense of being can be considered a spiritual journey. People go on such journeys while devoting their time to reading a certain kind of books, communicating with other people about spiritual themes, participating in spiritual practices or religious activities, etc. Any of these steps has the ultimate objective, which can be determined by finding the truth about the sense of human existence and defining the right way to live the life according to this truth.
Reaching this ultimate objective appears to be a very complicated task, as the wisest men of different times tried to find the answers to the existential questions and did not succeed. However, all of these men gained the invaluable knowledge about the specifics of human nature and the laws of human life. Such spiritual journeys help to explore what it means to live truly and prevent being afraid of death.
One of the rewards of any spiritual experience is the comprehension of the temporality of earthly life and understanding of the importance of focusing on eternal values. The main hero of Tolstoy’s novella “The Death of Ivan Ilyich” experienced a spiritual journey at the end of his life. The process of this journey helped him to learn more about the nature of existence and analyze his life based on the gained knowledge.
Physical journeys can be regarded as one of the effective ways to broaden the worldview, and, therefore, understand the nature of existence. The person receives an opportunity to look aside the conditions he/she is used to living in and see the life from a different perspective while going on a journey. From the ancient times, people were attracted to distant countries, and long-term journeys were made for the sake of exploration.
While people were searching for discoveries and conquering the unknown places, they were discovering not only new continents and countries but also new aspects of the existence. Their view of the world and human life was changing with every new journey. Nowadays people travel to improve and broaden the borders of personal worldview through the prism of new impressions. Any journey makes the person’s perception of life deeper and more extensional.
Therefore, it contributes to the personal growth and teaches to understand the world. The main hero of “The Epic of Gilgamesh” experienced such kind of journey, which helped not only to achieve the goal but gain new knowledge and understand the nature of existence better.
Both spiritual and physical journeys present great value not because of the goals they help to reach but because of the benefits the processes involved in their realization give. That are the cases when the way to the final point is precious itself, even if the point is not reached. The process of a spiritual journey aimed at searching for the truth can be considered extremely fruitful even if the ultimate objective is not reached.
Such process helps the person to understand what it means to be a human and which kind of life can be regarded as the righteous one. The process of a physical journey can also be regarded as the favorable one as it puts the person under the conditions that help to see the new sides of life and learn about those aspects of life that cannot be explored while leading a routine life at one place.
Both spiritual and physical journeys help to explore the nature of existence. The process of a spiritual journey benefits the person with new knowledge and a better understanding of the world.
The process of a physical journey helps to broaden the person’s worldview and discover new sides of human life. Any person eager to find out what is the righteous way of living the life, what are main goals of human existence, and how to overcome the affection for earthly values and the fear of death, should try to go on a journey that will bring much new knowledge and wisdom.