“The fun we get from traveling may depend more on the state of mind we travel than the destination itself.” De Botton’s journey is not a travel guide, but a journey with The interaction of history, literature and art is his spiritual resonance with Flaubert, Baudelaire, Van Gogh and Wordsworth. In his articles, he teaches us how to be curious, to think, and to observe, and to renew our enthusiasm for life. De Botton is not content to introduce knowledge in each field, but wants to explore the fundamental problems of the field. De Botton is a knowledgeable and logical writer. He used to be a lecturer in philosophy at a university. From Socrates and Humboldt to Emerson and Nietzsche, he has systematically read. In addition, he also has extensive exposure to Western literature and art works. Therefore, when discussing the theme of “travel”, he not only shows rational awareness from time to time, but can also observe “travel” itself in multiple directions in combination with literary and artistic works.
Nan Zhiguo, the translator of The Art of Travel, commented: “What is travel? De Botton does not want to rush to provide answers; why travel? Designing a complete itinerary lies in creating a mood, with the help of its flow or jump, spread out to provide a sense of integrity for the whole book. Emotional erratic and continuous is the ultimate pursuit of De Botton. His sensitivity not only reflects In the perception of the wonderful connection between literary and artistic works and travel destinations, and he never ignores the small links that are commonplace in travel. Philosophical, at the same time very emotional, and supplemented by succinct language, Shen Yun is not This is the most prominent feature of The Art of Travel. His ubiquitous wit and wit will influence and even change the way you think about travel, and may change the way you travel and travel in the future.”
【Author’s brief introduction】Alain De Botton, a talented British writer, was born in 1969, graduated from Cambridge University, and now lives in London. He is proficient in English, French, German and other languages, and has won the essence of European humanistic traditions. He liked Proust, Montaigne, Socrates, as well as traveling, shopping, and falling in love. He writes novels that seek to break away from traditional patterns of storytelling and situational representation, hoping to explore the stories behind situations and the dynamics behind various relationships. At the age of 23, he made a big splash with his debut novel “Love Notes”, and authored novels “Falling in Romance”, “Kissing and Telling” and prose works “Embrace the Passing Time”, “The Consolation of Philosophy”, “Identity Anxiety” and so on. “The New York Times Book Review” commented on De Botton’s work as: using superficially familiar themes and plots to develop clever jokes and beautiful and interesting details.
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The real journey is to listen to the heart
[English] Alain De Botton
Travel can make people think. Few places are more accessible to your inner voice than on moving planes, ships and trains.
There is a curious connection between the landscape in front of us and the ideas that may arise in our minds: grand thinking often requires grand landscapes, and new perspectives often arise in unfamiliar places. Under the stimulation of the flowing landscape, those inner pursuits that were easy to pause can continue to deepen. When we are forced to tell a joke or imitate an accent, the effect is often unsatisfactory; similarly, our minds may be reluctant to think well if we think only for the sake of thinking.
Our thinking is actually improved when our minds are thinking at the same time as other distractions, such as listening to music or following a line of trees. When we notice that consciousness has encountered a dilemma, this dilemma blocks the emergence of memories, longings, introspections or ideas, and wants to formulate and objectify our thinking Actual thoughts may force us to stop thinking. At this time, the music we hear or the scenery we see can just distract our nervous, critical, and practical thoughts from our minds, allowing our thinking to continue and deepen.
Of all modes of transportation, trains are perhaps the most thought-provoking: compared to ships and planes, sitting on a train, we don’t worry that the scenery outside the window might be monotonous; its speed is moderate, neither too slow and we lose Patience, and not so fast that we can’t make out the view from the window.
During the journey, the train can give us a glimpse of some private space, for example, we may have just seen a lady picking up a glass from the kitchen counter, and then see a terrace where a gentleman is sleeping, Next, we saw a child in the park catching a ball, but we couldn’t see the person throwing the ball… These private spaces, although only a short glimpse, were thought provoking.
On one trip, my mind was almost completely at ease as the train traveled over flat fields. I thought of my father’s death, of the essay I was writing on Stendhal, and of the suspicions between two friends. Whenever my thinking hits a dead end and my mind goes blank, I look out of the car window, lock my eyes on a target, and follow it for a while, until new ideas start to take shape and can be used without Clear your mind in stressful situations.
In the final stages of a long train dream, we feel like we’re back to our roots—that is, we’re beginning to understand the emotions and ideas that really matter to us. We don’t have to be at home to be most likely to get close to our true selves. At home, home decor blocks us from changing because they don’t; the patterns of home life also allow us to maintain a daily image that may not be our id image.
Hotel rooms also provide us with an opportunity to break free from stereotypes.
Lying on the bed of the hotel, the room was extremely quiet, and occasionally I heard the sound of the elevator going up and down quickly in the hotel. At this moment, we can forget all the fatigue before arriving, let our thoughts run wild, and savor the glory we once had and the loneliness we have encountered.
The small soap wrapped in paper beside the basin, the small bottled wine displayed on the small bar, the menu that promises to provide food delivery service all night, and the night scene of the calm and somewhat turbulent strange city downstairs on the 25th floor, etc., this is completely unfamiliar The environment can prompt us to examine our lives from a new height. This height is something we cannot reach at home, when we are troubled by daily chores.
In the middle of the night, the hotel post-it notes became a tool for receiving a flash of thought. The breakfast menu is on the floor of the room and has not yet been filled out. There is also a greeting card on the floor, which records the weather conditions for the next day and the hotel management’s good night wishes.
Raymond Williams has pointed out that the value of travel, or the process of wandering aimlessly, is that they allow us to experience dramatic emotional transformations.
If we find the poetry of life in gas stations, motels, etc., if we are drawn to airports and train cars, it may be because we clearly feel that these remote and isolated places offer us a sense of reality. In the scene of the present, we can temporarily escape from the selfish comforts, bad habits and restraints that are difficult to change in the stagnant daily life, no matter how imperfect and uncomfortable they are in design, and how they are in color. Unpretentious, how soft in the lighting.
