Essay by Luke Foster
Life is a journey, not a destination” Ralph Waldo Emerson
I arrived back in Australia on Thursday from Europe and started to get back in the groove of things by getting up early today and hanging out my washing had a decaf coffee and then two hours beach walking then off by bus to the post office to pick up a painting by my Korean friend Hansol Lim and a book about Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara that my friend Sean Cordeiro got me in Tokyo while he and his family were doing a studio residency there in December 2022.
“The man who goes alone can start today; but he who travels with another must wait till that other is ready.” Henry David Thoreau
This quote by Thoreau captures why I mainly travel alone and just occasionally catch up with other friends on my journeys. I like having the flexibility to not push things to hard and do a million things a day but rather take time to space it out and absorb each experience with the occasional day off and lots of drawing and a little writing of essays.
I feel when you arrive back home after the initial one or two days sleeping then you start getting back into the groove of things.
I hope that tomorrow or the next day I can get back into my daily gym work out after my morning beach walks.
These beach walks help me process a lot of the experiences I had in Europe while both my mind and body become accustomed to the change in both culture and temperature. In Vienna my last city it was minus two degrees and here back in Australia it was around thirty degrees, I guess.
“It seems important to me to distinguish between religion and spirituality. Religion implies a system of beliefs based on metaphysical foundations, along with the teaching of dogmas, rituals, or prayers. Spirituality, however, corresponds to the development of human qualities such as love, compassion, patience, tolerance, forgiveness, or a sense of responsibility. These inner qualities, which are a source of happiness for oneself and for others, are independent of any religion. That is why I have sometimes stated that one can do without religion, but not without spirituality. And an altruistic motivation is the unifying element of the qualities that I define as spiritual. ”
Dalai Lama XIV, My Spiritual Journey
I googled My Spiritual Journey by the Dalai Lama, and this is what I found.
I feel a spiritual journey can take you to literally the other side of the world or it can be a beach walk or stroll ten minutes to the grocery stall.
I feel I have never been interested in politics, but I love art and music and the best art and music has spiritual values.
Selfie back at my local cafe
Painting by Hansol Lim from South Korea. I love doing art swaps with other artists. I suggested she look at paintings by Australian artist Jeffery Smart.