When was the last time you escaped? I mean fully escaped into a wonder-inducing, awe-inspiring landscape, or sci-fi, or song?
Humans are meant to escape. We are driven by the impulse to escape. It’s what led us to multiply, fill the earth and attempt to subdue it. It’s what drives us to space travel and interplanetary colonization. It’s what allowed us to discover mind-altering substances and rituals. It is not the avoidance of living, it is living.
We all have a deep longing for escape. Escape is a kind of homecoming. We all feel slightly out of place; we all have an urge to return home, whatever that might mean. It is the drive to do this which lies at the back of all of our other impulses. It’s a beautiful motivation. It is making peace with life and death. It is seeing beyond time and space.
I do not mean escape motivated by fear. That is hiding. I mean adventure motivated by the desire to escape in and of itself. Escape requires boldness, persistence, vision, and integrity. It is not cowardice but courage.
What are you escaping into? What are you enraptured by? Do you have the courage to follow it? Your point of origin is not your destination. Living is escaping.