When the Soul Feels Distant in a Land you desire to Call “Home”!
The sense of disconnection and why do we feel so?
TALES AND TRAVEL
Wandering Armenian
5/8/20251 min read
There are times when even if one is in a place as beautiful and as tidy as New Zealand there is an invincible feeling of disconnection — whether on emotional or spiritual grounds. Such distancing does not intend to denigrate the nation; rather, it indicates a greater wish. a longing for the energy, heat, and chaos which infuses a community’s soul and spirituality.
In places like Haiti, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka or parts of Europe, everyday life has a real grittiness about it that tends to bring people together. Beliefs are not just individual, but communal. Pain is experienced as a community struggle rather than personal struggle. They trust each other, who they trust as well as trust in deity. Chanting of prayers fill the streets, markets are coloured out and homes also are always open, inviting common experiences. A spiritual rhythm persists in spite of adversity – in which pain and delight become one, and life’s experience is not only holy, but untidy.
While safely, orderly, and beautiful, New Zealand has at times the feel of a place too neatly put together in order to reveal the rough, dirty humanity of the rest of the world. Given its remoteness and personal boundaries, there is a tendency to make spirituality even more silent. People are polite but private. There is a tendency for spiritual beliefs to be boundary bonded. Though the countryside may be magnificent, the heart may still long for togetherness, with one to share experiences as if wandering an impeccable side of some canvas.
The sense of disconnection is greater due to a search for spiritual connection, common frailty, and common goals, something that most underdeveloped countries have to a surplus. The heart looks for spaces in which the presence of God is more felt powerfully amid chaos than that of tranquillity.
True belonging is not just about where we are, but where our spirit is most alive. And sometimes, the soul simply yearns to return to where it once felt deeply seen.
