“Trekking the Foggy Plane”

This is Advanced Topic for the public website for informational purposes only.

Future, Future You

How to describe Trekking the Foggy Plain? Good question! There’s no way until you’ve “Climbed the Mountain” and even then, it’s vague and misty.

Imagine you are in a large flat land with only a few trees. And it’s very foggy. You are meant to be on a path, but you can’t really see very far ahead. Nothing is clearly marked unless you come up right next to it. There could be shapes of various sizes looming around you. You might discern there is direction you’d like to go, but there’s no certain “correct” path.

It’s a journey of self-discovery. You are your own navigator. Whichever direction you travel is the right direction, but the steps you take may not be safe or guarantee any particular destination. The whole journey is an exploration of a land you’ve never been to before and for which you cannot be prepared. And once you’ve left there’s no path to return. There isn’t a final destination other than to investigate and see what you discover. Imagine it as sailing into the unknown like Christopher Columbus, with only a vague idea of the potential lands that lie beyond your known universe.

It’s not a mandatory journey. You can return from the mountain top to live a normal life per your temperament and inclination. Ideally you can retain your experience at the top of the mountain and use it to solidify and anchor your “normal world” experience. If you happen to take a tumble down the mountain you can brush yourself off and climb back to the top. You’ve been there before.

Think of the Foggy Plain like the aboriginal walkabout, whereupon you are motivated to take a spiritual journey from within and challenge yourself with a nontraditional transition into personhood.

It’s a singular rite of passage, for you and you alone. It would not be a youthful journey, but more an internal life exploration to search out any final unasked questions or possibly to fulfill or resolve forgotten ambitions. It’s a “know it when you get there” type experience. It may be life-changing, or it may be just another experience. No one else is really going to know what you are going through, nor could you explain it properly when it takes place.

You are your own navigator, crew, purpose for the journey, recipient of the value, and reason for the experience. It’s not something you go through with another person, although they also may be Trekking their Foggy Plain under similar conditions. It’s not something you really know until you get there, nor something easily explainable when you return.

It will be very meaningful for you personally,

Dr. John Pollard