Mental Nomad: You Need To Explore Your Own Mind Before You Explore The World

Traveling the world can be pricey… wandering your mind is free.

More than that, it’s an investment. The more time you spend wandering the halls of your psyche, the more you will get in return.

The world is a beautiful place, but there is nothing more beautiful than the human mind.

You should travel. You should go sightseeing. You should explore all that the world has to offer.

But don’t forget about the most beautiful of all places, a place where you are in control, where you have all the freedom you could possibly ask for.

Don’t forget to wander your mind because traveling the world honestly pales in comparison.

Learning to enjoy your mind is the first step to enjoying every other aspect of your reality.

For all intents and purposes, your mind = you. There is some wiggle room for differentiation between our thoughts and whatever little bit of us that makes us, us, but our minds govern who we are.

Our minds don’t just think -- they govern what we think, why we think and how we think. And what are thoughts? Perceptions, interpretations and understandings of our reality.

The way we understand the world to be -- both on a micro and macro level -- is all from our single standpoint.

We can’t possibly understand or see the world through anyone else’s eyes, and for this reason, our minds rule our personal reality.

Another aspect of our reality -- an aspect that likewise exists in our minds -- includes the emotions we experience.

Emotions clearly arise from within us, in response to the thoughts we have about the world around us and, most importantly, the thoughts we have about ourselves.

So let me ask you this: If your entire understanding of the world is contingent upon the way your mind interprets, sees and experiences it, where would it be wise to start? If the world appears broken, it may just be your interpretation of it.

Before you get to know the world, it’s wiser to get to know yourself, first and foremost.

Unless you feel mentally grounded, you will never feel physically grounded. You will never find a place that feels like home because the only place that will ever feel like home is your mind.

I believe it’s incredibly important to travel the world, to see new things, experience new experiences, meet new people and learn about their cultures, about their interpretations of the world and what they believe to be the meaning of it all.

It’s important to travel the world because it widens your horizons, allows you a glimpse into a different perspective, a different understanding of why we exist and how we ought to exist.

But unless you have already wandered your mind, wandered its peaks and valleys, streams and oceans, you won’t have the mental capacity to take in the reality around you.

Exploring your mind does lead to a better understanding of your reality, but it likewise leads to a sort of separation from your reality; you begin to understand the way you see the world is simply the way YOU see the world. And until you understand what exactly that means, you will never understand life -- no matter how much you travel.

Your reality, the way you view and understand the world, starts with you.

How would you define what it means to understand something? We see and experience things every day of our lives, and most individuals understand little to nothing of what’s going on outside of them -- forget about what’s going on within them.

To understand is to be aware of how things function and how they connect, as well as the fact that they are the way they are.

Understanding why the world -- and everything and everyone in it -- works the way it works is an incredibly difficult feat. Assuming there is always a reason why, there must necessarily be a how.

If you want to understand why the way the world is the way it is, why people act the way they act, why your life is turning out the way it is turning out, then you need to come to understand how everything is connected, how it all relates and affects each other.

I bring all of this up is for one specific reason: Unless you have already managed to navigate and map your own mind, to wander it, explore it, make connections from your personal experiences and from the things you’ve learned, you will never be able to make the necessary connections to experience the world in its fullness.

So why bother traveling when you won’t be able to see the world’s beauty in its fullest?

It's possible that everything you’re experiencing exists solely in your mind.

As Descartes once pointed out, the only thing we can be certain of is our own existence. Nothing else is guaranteed.

Everything and everyone else can, in theory, be a figment of our imaginations, existing solely in our minds. For all of you not familiar with the philosopher, think “Matrix” -- but much lonelier.

I am certain I exist because, again borrowing from Descartes, “I think; therefore I am.” But how can I be certain anyone else exists?

My entire experience and understanding comes from my perceptions, and what are my perceptions if not electrical signals pulsing through my brain?

Everything you see, feel, taste, smell, hear, is all the interpretation of these electrical signals.

You can never, ever be certain anything outside of you exists -- at least not through introspection alone.

The point is if you can’t be certain of anything, then you ought to question everything.

Don’t take anything for fact because as far as you know, the reality you exist in may be far removed from what you believe it to be.

Maybe you are plugged into some machine somewhere. Maybe you are the single, all-encompassing being. No one knows for sure, but if the answers can be found, then your mind is the key.

For More Of His Thoughts And Ramblings, Follow Paul Hudson On Twitter And Facebook.