Mass Identical eJourneys Of Self-Discovery

    I felt knowledge and the unity of the world circulate in me like my own blood.” ― Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha

Yes I’ll be making a deeply spiritual journey but I havent crowdsourced which road to travel this year

I must seek my true self somewhere far from the well-worn maze pathway I trace in the daily ratrace

I’ll lose my mind and discover myself- according to stuff I’ve been tweeted from certain bestsellers

And it won’t be long before I leave, no way! I just have a few more loose digital ends to tidy up

Wont need much besides my iPad - just my credit card and the overpriced travel clothes in my pack

Gonna head out to see the suffering that rules the world sos to reach a higher plane of consciousness

I’ll be getting twisted up in trendy yoga poses while I ponder the complexities of climate change

Broadening my horizons by holding my nose and tiptoeing thru their inescapably-crowded streets

I’m going off on a pilgrimage during which my normal life and busy thoughts will flake uselessly away

I’ll gaze upon the menial jobs of the filthy working poor to grasp the dignity of their grinding poverty

I’ll make a voyage of self-discovery and then step back in my cube with but a little cattle prodding

I’ll tour their swarming, filthy hives but spend almost all my time with other tourists, just like me

Gonna take back some life lessons learned photographing others from safely behind closed windows

Why, I’ll be gone close to 3 whole weeks, worrying every minute that I’ll be robbed, shot or infected

However, all the time I will hold tightly to the knowledge that I’ll be back home before I know it

Then I’ll integrate their gritty lessons into my ass-kissing and back-biting shoulder-climb to the top

Look for my pithy posts from identical dirty hostels run by world-weary, expatriate entrepreneurs

I’ll upload the photographic proof of my emerging spirituality on social media in near-realtime

See, I’m going off looking to raise my cosmic awareness and it’s not simply because I cant find a job

And I got bookmarks on all the highlights that I simply gotta see to nurture my eternal soul

I’ll be taking lots of pictures of stuff that I won’t ever even actually look at with my naked eyes

Yup, I’ll sneak soul-stealing snapshots of real people from our bus to hang in my cubicle, back home

Daringly, I might even brush my teeth in the tap water and possibly even try some local food

But mostly I’ll have beers with my new tourist friends in places where the natives can only work

I can spice my twitter feed with the nuggets of worldly wisdom that I am trying to digest here

Wearing dirty clothes and hardly ever getting a really decent shower, so does my understanding grow

Just watching out for my wallet and holding on to my passport requires a lot of my attention

Observing all the litter and their infinite dirty faces will surely raise my own level of enlightenment

I will adjust to their pace of living and kick back, yet diligently keep to my hard and fast schedule

My fellow travelers and I will share tips on hostels, tours, food and bars – all created just for us

Finding and successfully using an ATM will become an exotic adventure that I will always remember

And I will experience their culture just like I do their food – only in places made safe for such as us

I will learn to ignore the endless stream of trinket sellers and beggars with a soulful equanimity

I’ll be wearing local bracelets, tying my hair back in skinny dreds and not shaving, most of the time

I will try to keep repeating Om Mani Padme Hum as I squat forlorn and sick over a squalid asian toilet

I will learn patience waiting for the moment when none of the 1000 other tourists are in my picture