I’m a big fan of the Anthony Bourdain show, No Reservations. He’s a chef that travels the world and experiences the local culture through its food. His cynical sense of humor and self-destructive nature resonates with me. I don’t really watch TV, so he’s literally one of the 2 or 3 shows I watch (in company with The Office and The Daily Show), and lately his has been the only one I’ve been watching on Netflix.
It blew me away tonight when he ended the show with what seemed a beautiful summary of enlightenment. Hereafter is direct quote from the show, which was about his visit to Peru:
You try and sum this all up in a sound bite. There’s no way.
I have to say, in all modesty, I have been to some truly breathtaking and beautiful places, and, by any accounts, Machu Picchu takes the crown.
A writer friend of mine wrote that the older he gets, the more he travels, the less he knows. I understand what he meant now.
It seems like the more places I see and experience, the bigger I realize the world to be. The more that I become aware of, the more I realize how relatively little I know of it. How many places I have still to go. How much more I have still to learn.
Maybe that’s enlightenment enough, to know that there is no final resting place of the mind. No moment of smug clarity.
Perhaps wisdom, such as it is, means realizing how small I am and unwise, and how far I have yet to go.
