EUROPE
Walking through time
The Ebbs & Flows of Europe
Sangria in Porto, Portugal
Not once, but twice, two Summer’s running, I found myself in Europe.
What a place. It truly is the home of the modern world as we know it. So much of our Western cultures stem from Europe, and it was during these Summer months of 2017/2018 that I was able to look through the eyes of time, and walk the cobbled streets of Europe as a simple merchant or labourer may have done some time in the last 2000 years.
I am fascinated by time. Particularly, its effects on culture. Time itself is simply a standard of measurement - a way for us to keep track of things. For example, without time, it would be difficult to select a moment to meet someone for something, or perhaps know when something else is happening. Time is what we use to keep track of life, of culture, and of things we as humans create.
I love time. But what I love the most is looking at how Human culture and Planet Earth has changed with time. This moment will never exist again. What a wonder.
One of my favourite things to do whilst travelling is look through the eyes of time. I walk through a place, and I imagine what it might have been like in 1441AD. Who was there? What was there? What were the customs? Traditions? What might I have been wearing? And who might have been in my life? These thoughts usually result in a feeling, or a sense, and it comes upon me a type of magic, as though I am really there. And for that moment, my life is full of wonder and surprise. I am time travelling with my mind.
Postcodes of Europe
Architecture is a great way to see the influence of time and culture
It wasn’t just the streets of Europe, but the landscapes too, that were instilling memories in me.
The rolling hills of Northern Italy, the giant mountains of Switzerland, and the idyllic coastal beaches of Portugal all inspired my heart. And it was a memory that felt a little deeper than just a young man seeing a place for the first time.
Again, as I had experienced on other parts of my travels, there was something inside of me that seemed to remember these places. An inherent longing for them. A nostalgia, a romance. Was it just the movies I had seen? The books I had read?
Or was there something deeper that was being sparked within me by stepping foot on these lands, hearing these languages, and eating and drinking the foods of the land?
Feeling very at home in Spain
Ronda, Spain
Wes & Jason in Ronda, my two companions on the 2017 trip
It is clear to me now that as I was travelling Europe for the ‘first’ time, I was actually having memories of other lives I had been there in other bodies. Quite the revelation, eh? Well, it depends on your belief systems. I know this now because I have had the experiences in my life that affirm to me it’s true. The knowing is an inner one. Sometimes, we just know.
What I wasn’t aware of then, that I am aware of now, is that as I was travelling these lands; the vibration, the karma (past events) and the memories in my body were becoming very present whilst walking on these lands. My soul was returning to a place it had been before, just in a different body and a different time. This happens to many of us whilst we travel, and it’s one of the most important reasons for travelling. We each hold unique codes as an expression of Life, and as we travel, these codes are moving to the places we are and meeting with the land (the physical dimension) of where we are.
Travel itself can be a great form of healing, of remembering and balancing, and not just for us as humans, but for the land and other forms of Life too.
Summer time in the Algarve Coast, Portugal
It was the two Summers in Europe that began shaping me into the man I am today, and I think a big part of that shaping was the changes that were happening inside of me, the ones that couldn’t be seen at the time. But as I returned, and my life experiences grew, the unseen seeds that were planted during these first years of pioneering travel began to flourish into the changes that make me who I am today. And I know I am constantly planting seeds for future changes too. This is the ever-cycle of Life, of Creation, and of being here.
If there is one thing to remember from my experiences in Europe, it is to appreciate the great story that has come before us in time. To walk on land with a reverence for that which has come before, and to acknowledge that with presence.
For it is presence that keeps us in the moment, and really, that is all Life is about.
Some highlights of Paris & Rome in 2018
