There’s a quote in The Dispossessed that I’ve been thinking about a lot lately:
“To be whole is to be part; true voyage is return.”
Once glance at my copy of The Dispossessed and you’ll find that I’ve highlighted several quotes (it’s hard *not to* highlight anything that Ursula K Le Guin writes!). But this quote is particularly close to my heart because it signifies something I’m constantly chasing — balance.
I am fascinated by nearly everything — the world, nature, people’s quirky behaviours. One of the reasons I adore solo travel is because it offers me the space to simply observe people, even if I don’t necessarily interact with them. Looking outwards is a humbling and enriching practice, a constant reminder that there’s so much to learn and experience in the world. It quashes the self-importance fuelled by my ego. It keeps me grounded, reminds me that I’m a part of a deeply interconnected web of relationships — human and non-human. While it’s true that the world would carry on without me, my presence nonetheless makes a tiny difference.
To be whole is to be part.
But when I only look outwards, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by everything around me that I often find it difficult to make sense of anything. I lose my sense of purpose — there’s no room left for self-reflection.
To truly sit with everything I experience on a journey, I need to return home. ‘Home’ has been a heavy word for me. Unlike many others, I can’t think of a place or person that reminds me of home. A few months ago, someone at a poetry workshop wrote “I belong nowhere and everywhere.” That sentence resonated with me so much that I’ve been thinking about it ever since.
In one of my favourite episodes of The Anthropocene Reviewed, John Green remarks: “Home is before, and you live in after. But home is also what you are building and maintaining today.” I find comfort in the thought that home is something I’m constantly creating and carrying with me everywhere I go. It is a form of inner strength — compassion, patience, resilience, service to my community. To return home is to return to myself.
True voyage is return.
I hope I find the balance between looking outwards and inwards — venturing into the world with my heart open but always, always returning home.
