There is the briefest of entries in my travelogue today, just noting that I caught the 14.00 hrs bus from Matala to Heraklion to catch the boat to Piraeus.
The past 31 days of beach life have been wonderful and pivotal, as noted in my previous post. I don’t know why I did not record more of my thoughts and feelings about leaving. As I had written in my notebook a couple of days ago…
Matala – why search for anywhere else?
I suppose this is one of many questions one could ask. Do we ever really leave a place that means so much to us? I believe that part of it stays with us, like a footprint in our psyche. The same is true for the people we have loved and lost.
Can we ever return? Philosophically, we know this is not possible – we are not the same people and the place is certainly not the same as when we left it.
The following is spoken by a character in Nausea by Jean-Paul Sartre:
“If I were ever to go on a trip, I think I should make written notes of the slightest traits of my character before leaving, so that when I returned I would be able to compare what I was and what I had become”.
An admirable intention, but one fraught with difficulties – our limitations when it comes to self-knowledge, our biases, the subjective nature of the endeavour masquerading as objective. Further on in the passage, he notes that it is other people who see the changes.
I changed. My view of myself, my view of others, my view of the world at large. Whether these changes were noted by others, I do not know. Maybe this is something I will return to at the end of this blogging journey.
Will I return to Matala? I know the answer, notwithstanding the philosophical difficulties.
Catch me in Athens again in a couple of days!
Psychologist on the Move 