Part of my nature as an INTJ is to need a plan, even if I don’t follow it. The odd thing is that I don’t really get much by reading about a place before I see it. I have to see it, then read about it, and then go look again with informed eyes.
One of my greatest disappointments was to learn (many years later) that I had visited a place (Bungo Taketa) and missed its most interesting feature: Oka Castle: http://www.jcastle.info/photos/view/479-Oka-Castle.
We could have spent the afternoon feasting on a forested panorama (which is what we needed). Instead we ambled off in the other direction, grew tired, and went home. What a missed chance! Rather than wallow in regret, I am more intent on being prepared remembering incidents like this.
Also it’s easier for me to form my own responses when I (contrarian that I am) have something to push against, arguing against someone else’s impressions. When I look at something for the first time without any background information, I look without seeing. Or perhaps, I look and see only the surface. The more I learn about it and the more often I look at it, the more it comes into three-dimensional focus — or even four-dimensional focus, if you include time fossilized in history.
I guess the answer to my apparent contradiction is this: I enjoy wandering aimlessly but only when I’m prepared.
Related
- Wondering While Wandering
- Search Versus Serendipity
- Bungo Taketa
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dawn ahukanna’s profile photo
dawn ahukanna
Isn’t missed opportunity part of wandering without a map? Had you made a different choice you’d have made a pleasant discovery. Happenstance is part of that journey, no?
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Mar 17, 2012
M Sinclair Stevens’s profile photo
M Sinclair Stevens
Some missed opportunities are more costly than others. +dawn ahukanna I think +Dan Ariely ‘s article on regret speaks to that: http://danariely.com/2012/03/10/regret/
Had we even known of the existence of Oka castle, we could have looked for it even without a map. We took the trip specifically to explore and yet we found nothing because we lacked the knowledge to push us forward on our search. I will never have the opportunity to see it again.
As the Pasteur article says, chance favors the prepared mind. Serendipity is more than dumb luck. I’m not advocating always purposeful travels. As I said, I cannot be a tourist. I think my style is informed aimlessness.
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Mar 17, 2012
dawn ahukanna’s profile photo
dawn ahukanna
I like that, “informed aimlessless”. You plan and prepare but are not bound to execute it to the letter.
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