johnmdemarco posted on April 06, 2010 19:20
“When we are going to beeeee there?” my four-year-old, Olivia, asked us from the back seat today.
My wife Jenna was the first to offer the reply. “We’re kind of already there,” she said.
Jenna was spot on, as some business executives are fond of saying. The family van was cruising along the Natchez Trace Parkway, a beautiful stretch of road spanning several states with plenty of historical intrigue. There were specific, appealing stops along the way as you traveled, with cool, rustic structures and look-out points offering breathtaking glimpse of gorgeous valleys. For us, the culmination was visiting the gravesite of none other than Meriwether Lewis of the famed Lewis & Clark duo (yes, the predecessors to that 1990s “super” television couple Lois & Clark), and reading of Lewis’s untimely death at the age of 35 in 1809. Olivia danced along the outside of the monument that rests on top of Lewis’s remains, obviously oblivious to the historical significance—as she should have been.
Cool tourist stops aside, to be at any point along the parkway was to be “kind of already there.” The journey and the destination are one and the same. The parkway, unique in its strict absence of all commercialism (no hotels, restaurants, cheesy billboards, schlocky t-shirt stands, etc.) has the sole, abiding purpose of simply being there for one’s pleasure.
I believe this dynamic tension applies to many aspects of life. A vacation is both the experience of trying to get there (just ask Clark Griswold) and enjoying the amenities once you arrive. A love relationship is so much more than celebrating milestone anniversaries; it’s the laughter and tears you share together each day that truly make it special and fulfilling. A vocation or career calling is not just attaining a certain status or salary, but leveraging your strengths each and every moment while serving people well.
This also applies to consciousness; being present and aware and tapping into divine existence and power beyond any temporal things or events. You do not necessarily try to “get to” more consciousness; by having the desire to be more fully engaged, you’re “kind of already there.” Zen master Suzuki wrote of enlightenment not as some stage one strives to achieve, but a quiet awareness of what is already present within a person and surrendering more fully to that larger, divine identity.
Many of us spend hours, days and years waiting for things to happen, or waiting to arrive at a certain place, relationship, career or state of mind. Just like Jesus said the kingdom of God is here and yet is to come, the fulfillment that ostensibly eludes so many is at hand and often screaming for our attention.