Scene 1: The Journey with The Wandering Traveler
In my first entry of my cross-country journey, Between the Particular and The Comprehensive Whole, I wrote about the relationship between particulars and a comprehensive whole. I am using a distinction that Michael Polanyi makes in reference to scientific research. In essence, the particular only refers to itself whereas the comprehensive whole provides insight and meaning to the particulars within it. This is how to understand hierarchies and orders of reality. It doesn’t mean that the particulars don’t influence or impact the whole, just that they don’t have the capacity to provide a comprehensive interpretation of the whole.
In seeking to understand a comprehensive whole, we look for patterns. I call these patterns of behavior. They are also patterns that are revealed by the particulars. I am observing behaviors or phenomena that are repeated, and are similar across a spectrum of differences.
For example, over the past decade, I have traveled to 15 countries on three continents. I could add the US and North America to that list because I have traveled through 40 US states during this time. What I observed is that there is far more that is similar between us as people, than there is different, even on a global scale. The is an order of identity, where family, community, native tribe, region or state all carry a greater weight of affection than national origin. The only global affinity that I find that is equal in its power to establish identity is that of climate change which is essentially a political identity. This is why I started The Eddy Network Podcast: Global Conversations for Local Leaders. I want to celebrate the leadership impact that they have at the local level.
In my second post, The Orders of Reality and The Wandering Traveler, I write about giving a ride to a young man headed to see his grandmother on the Crow reservation in Montana. We talked about his particular life. The situations are not particularly unique as they are universally experienced by many people. I was cautious not to offer platitudes of reassurance to him. Instead, I wanted him to see how to take responsibility for his life.
I laid out a type of order for reality for him. It would start with what he wanted for his life. There were expectations placed on him by people that would not create a secure, stable life in the future. When trauma and desperation are one’s experience, it is difficult to think clearly. When you are homeless, the obstacle of creating the conditions for creating a home, not only seem insurmountable, but are in most cases. It usually requires the help of someone or group to provide the structure of stability.
The Order of Reality as I described starts with the Spirituality of the recognition of one’s inherrent value. To think Philosophically brings clarity, followed by the Cultural structures of work, home, community, finances, and personal discipline. The problem is that these are difficult to achieve when the Political structure of society encourages homelessness and destitution.
Scene 2: The Return to the Crossroads of Encounter
After two days of meetings in Casper, I turned around and headed back south down I-25 toward Denver. I left the highway at Chugwater, Wyoming, population 175, and took Wy 313 back over to US 85, which is the main road between Torrington and Cheyenne. I turned right towards LaGrange, where the crossroads of my encounter with the Wandering Traveler took place.
Instead of rain, the Wyoming sky was blue and with little whisps of clouds. It was a perfect day.
My plan was to return to David and Judy’s Bear Mountain Stage Stop, the ‘inconvenience’ store where I picked up my Wandering Traveler two days before. When I left the other day, I felt there was unfinished business, conversations left hanging, and stories needing to be told.
The Bear Mountain Stage Stop is a small convenience store, bar, and gathering point for people in the LaGrange, Wyoming area. Travelers driving up US85 will stop for a drink and a chat. I drove into the parking lot that was full of vehicles. I entered the store. Judy was at the counter. David was in the bar talking to two retired Navy guys. We introduced ourselves. Chatted for a few minutes, and then they were off. Judy came in and offered me something to drink. I was there for almost four hours.
Especially in the American West, away from the cities, where there are long expanses of agricultural land, you can sometimes find these “third places. “ A ‘third place’ is a place like a coffee shop, a hair salon, a gym, or a church. Places where people gather, hang out, and pass the time. Home is a ‘first place’, and work is a ‘second place.’
Shortly after I arrived, a guy came in and sat next to me. He was introduced as a retired school teacher from Colorado. Turns out he is one of the sons of the family that raise beef cattle along Wy215 between LaGrange and Pine Bluffs. It was his family’s ranch that I drove through two days before that I featured in my closing video with Colter Wall singing about being A Plan To See Plainsman. Within the next hour, his two brothers came in, and soon, another beef cattle rancher.
I felt that I was in Wyoming cattle royalty. My mind when to the Western movies where cowboys drove the herds to the railway junction to be loaded into box cars and shipped to the meat processors in the mid-West. Red River is probably the best of those films. If you are ever driving through Vernon, Texas, you can see where the cattle drives crossed the Red River at Doan’s Crossing.
Go over to West Texas in Dahlem County, you can visit the museum of the great XIT ranch. The map here is the route they would drive the cattle between the ranch in Texas and the ranch in Montana. The route takes them right through LaGrange, on to Lusk, Wyoming, about 90 miles north. This is the heritage of men that I sat with and had a beer with yesterday.
Scene 3: A Moment of Encounter Out of Time
When you listen to Colter Wall’s songs, you’ll hear a young man who is rooted in a specific place, the wheat fields of Western Canada. You can hear it in these songs he sings about the Canadian plains of his youth. In The Plain To See Plainsman song (below), the young man is longing for home. Colter Wall is from Swift Current, Saskatchewan, Canada, about 800 miles directly north of LaGrange, Wyoming. That world is very similar to the one the four men with whom I sat with in the bar in the middle of nowhere is like.
Gradually, all the customers left, and David, Judy, and I shared the stories of our lives that connect us together at a Spiritual level. The moments of encounter with people that we each have had, where we shake hands in gratitude across cultural divides is the treasure of an honorable life. When we find a place to meet, be gracious, and treat one another with honor, we are creating the conditions for a better world. I have invited David to be a guest on The Eddy Network Podcast. It will be a sparkling conversation.
Thanks, Aways
I’ve maintained for a long time that Spirituality is relational. The past few days have confirmed this in my mind. The people that I have met. The conversations that I have had. The connections made that could last a lifetime if we make it so.
The best expression of this Spirituality of Relationship at the crossroads of our life’s journey is thanks. My young traveling companion, the Wandering Traveler, after we had secured a room for him to stay for the night, outstretched his hand towards mine in thanks. This expression of the way men express honor and thanks gave me hope that he will find his way out of the cul-de-sac of hardship his life has become.
The similarities in experience and understanding that David and I share showed me that the road-less-traveled is often one of meaning and affirmation.
And today, my conversation with Susan, the desk clerk at my hotel, reaffirmed that there are people everywhere who will, with real joy, “take personal initiative to create impact that makes a difference that matters.” Thank you.
Each day some encounter gives me reason for thanks. Reaffirming that the Spirit of a person matters whether they know why they are thanking you or whether it is just some habit that they have learned to do. Its expression connects us together and extends the possibility of the continuation of the relationship into the future.
After a day of rest and reflection, it is on to a new set of encounters. Stories to follow.