A More Appropriate Title

I have decided to change the title of my blog from "A Journey Around the World" to something that tells the reader a little more about myself. The original title was quite succinct but I think it was also a bit of a cop out. I created my blog under slight duress to get it up an running. The result was a title and a first post that were both true yet revealed very little (except perhaps that my lack of creativity.)

In light of this a new title is in order, one with a little more depth. "The World is a Book." This title is taken from a quote attributed to St. Augustine "The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page." This new title is fitting for many reasons. First it is attributed to St. Augustine a figure in all three fields of study I am interested in. He is a giant in history and one of the Doctors of the Church. Of course the content of this quote is more important than its name sake, and it is immanently meaningful for my purposes during this trip and life in general. I want to find Truth (note a capital T)

 As a Historian: First, I will note that Herodotus' Histories is often considered the first true work of history. Herodotus gathered his information about the Persian wars by traveling. I certainly would be honored to follow in his foot steps. Second, history consists of events that happened in time and place. Traveling to the place where history happened can't hurt my understanding of the events. Third, My professors have always directed me to histories great works. By reading their written works I can have conversations with the people who shaped our world. Some of histories greatest thinkers used travel as their muse. This can be seen in the era of Utopian literature. Tomas Moore's Utopia, Tommaso Campanella's The City of the Sun, and Voltaire's Candide are all perfect examples. They used a Traveler with tales of lands far away to comment on their own societies in ways they never could other wise. Perhaps travel could be my muse as well. By mixing travel with my readings of the great works I hope to continue turning the pages of the world and history and to gain a deeper understanding of both.

As a Philosopher: I have an interesting relationship with Philosophy. I both find it fascinating and incredibly frustrating. I will keep this part short. As a Philosopher I want to explore ideas. There is no better way to do that then to talk people about their ideas. Traveling will give me a chance to explore new ideas with new people.

As a Theologian: I will borrow an idea from Galileo that fits into my book analogy. Galileo argues that Truth is written in two books. The book of Scripture and the book of Nature (or the world for my purposes.) Both of these books are true. If they seem to conflict it is only because we have failed to interpret one of them correctly. Truth can't contradict truth.  This trip will allow me to read both these books and hopefully I can discover some truth. I will of course have to keep in mind that Scripture is God's perfect and revealed Truth. I may learn things from the world but those things are subject to distortion because of our fallen world. I hope to learn more about God through study of his words, communion with his Church, and through seeing and learning from his creation.

This concludes my justification for changing the title of my blog. I hope it isn't to long or boring. I tried to keep things short.

First Thoughts

I am less than two weeks away from leaving the country for the first time (unless you count flying over Mexico on the way to Texas.) I am excited but not yet as nervous as I think I should be. My first dip into international travel is more of a flying leap. Nearly five months and nine (or more) countries. My anticipation for this trip has also increased because of Summer work. There is nothing like an eight hour shift in the office to make world Travel an alluring prospect.
I hope to keep this blog up to date so that all of you can participate in this trip with me. It might take me a while to figure out how to use it.