Travelling as a need in self-transcendence

The article aims to unite all possible variants of travelling in a person's life in one direction, namely, in the process of transcendence beyond the limits of their personality, traditions of society, mentality, culture, etc. The notion of the phenomenon called "travelling" consists in leaving the homeland or one's Self, person's reaching unknown places and worlds and, consequently, their transformation at this moment and reflection on alterations after returning. The result of such alterations and their comprehension can be some "products" interesting for society. In this connection, the influence of travelling of some people on society life seems quite important. The author suggests introducing the concept "philosophy of travelling" and its structural components: criteria and typology of travelling, personality of a traveller, "product" as a result of their travelling. During the whole period of human history people need to overcome some material, mental and spiritual borders of everyday life they constantly see as "tight old clothes" and need to change some details of this "outfit". It concerns lives of settled peoples as well as nomadic ones and is expressed not only in their wish to move in geographic frames. More often breaking of the borders of everyday reality happens when people use dreams, trance and creative abilities for making new characteristics for their existence or new metaphysical realities. This eternal desire for "crossing the border" was wonderfully described by A. Maslow in his metaneed concept. One of the ways to satisfy the need in self-transcendence is travelling. Every time a person starts travelling s/he considers the balance of such parameters as the value of future acquisitions (after travelling) and their cost (during travelling). Regarding the influence of travelling on the personality of a traveller, s / he always prefers to travel searching for new sources of impressions, information, feelings, ideas, experience, energy, etc. in spite of the "price" that is anxiety about newness, fear for his/her life or destruction of his / her personality's monolithic structure. In the article, the author proposes criteria for the definition of the travelling phenomenon and its differences from other ways of movement: journey, wandering, migration, nomadic life, etc. The criteria are: conscious and voluntary decision to travel; need in self-transcendence for the sake of renewal of one's own Self; desire to return home, to society, to ordinary life, to one's own Self; creation of some "product" as a result of travelling. Traveller's life sense can be expressed by the words of an American writer W. Burroughs: "To live is not necessary. To travel is essential". The article also gives different types of travelling in outer and inner worlds. For instance, kinds of geographical "outer" travelling are the following: discovery of new lands, pilgrimage, eco-natural and extreme tourism, as well as ethnographic, language-studying, educational-cognitional, in-search-of-Self travelling and others. Kinds of "inner" metaphysical travelling are identified by routes, for instance, in search of Supreme Wisdom, dreams, Country of death, sphere of God/Absolute, Self-Ego, Masterpieces of art/literature/cinematography/fashion/photography and others. Thus, this article describes criteria of the travelling phenomenon, typology of different types of travelling, description of the traveller's personality main features and suggestion to unite outer and inner travelling in a single area of "philosophy of travelling".

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