I Know the Difference Between Exploring and Being Lost.
Business Time in Mauritania
One of my Heroes, Dan Eldon, observed that
"There is little difference between Exploring and Being Lost".
As a sailor, a diver and a bit of a story-teller, I find myself lucky enough to get invited to join some very interesting scientific expeditions in some far-flung corners of the world. And although I don't consider myself to be an explorer, I have to admit there have been times when I could have been considered lost.
I love to tell the stories that come from these trips, and this blog is my latest attempt to share my excitement for The Art of Exploration.
You'll have to forgive me if I stray from that subject. In writing, just as in my travels, I often find myself in strange country I had never intended to visit, and it's only after I come out the other side that I can find out where I have been. Sort of Exploring in Reverse.
But, I do know what the difference between Exploring and Being Lost is: It's a notebook.
"There is little difference between Exploring and Being Lost".
As a sailor, a diver and a bit of a story-teller, I find myself lucky enough to get invited to join some very interesting scientific expeditions in some far-flung corners of the world. And although I don't consider myself to be an explorer, I have to admit there have been times when I could have been considered lost.
I love to tell the stories that come from these trips, and this blog is my latest attempt to share my excitement for The Art of Exploration.
You'll have to forgive me if I stray from that subject. In writing, just as in my travels, I often find myself in strange country I had never intended to visit, and it's only after I come out the other side that I can find out where I have been. Sort of Exploring in Reverse.
But, I do know what the difference between Exploring and Being Lost is: It's a notebook.
And the old man said to me, "take this notebook, and you will never be lost again."
Some times the notes in my notebooks stray from observations of facts, numbers, important details, and instead start recording from another perspective.
This alternative view first started for me when I was about 13 when, after nodding off while writing a letter, I woke up to find my writing hand starting to act on its own. In a slow, deliberate single line, it traced out a image on the thin airmail paper. In the end it appeared to be an underwater scene of a beaver building a beaver lodge, dam, and pond.
I have continued to draw in the same manner irregularly and unpredictably since then. But it hardly seems like its "Me" drawing. I cant control it, I cant predict or influence what comes out on the page, and an awful lot of the time its just scribbles. But now and then I can recognize where my mind has been, and what its trying to share.
Below are some of the odd images that have appeared in between otherwise normal notebook entries:
This alternative view first started for me when I was about 13 when, after nodding off while writing a letter, I woke up to find my writing hand starting to act on its own. In a slow, deliberate single line, it traced out a image on the thin airmail paper. In the end it appeared to be an underwater scene of a beaver building a beaver lodge, dam, and pond.
I have continued to draw in the same manner irregularly and unpredictably since then. But it hardly seems like its "Me" drawing. I cant control it, I cant predict or influence what comes out on the page, and an awful lot of the time its just scribbles. But now and then I can recognize where my mind has been, and what its trying to share.
Below are some of the odd images that have appeared in between otherwise normal notebook entries:
This was in the South China Sea, recovering artifacts from a Chinese Junk that sank 500 years before. During the long decompression times after the dive, our minds would wander...
Egypt
When we went to Egypt for the first time, the air alone had a potent, intoxicating effect from the moment we smelled the desert and the East. This must be Pablo in the Fisherman's Port in Alexandria
In Egypt
I'm pretty sure this is Ramadan, our doorman on Shari Talaat Noaman.
Surrealist
I have no idea who this guy is. Wikipedia has an article called Surrealist Automatism that kind of describes what this process seems like to me. Maybe that's what it is.
The "Never Lost" Explorers Notebook, for The Art of Exploration
Through various programs and institutions, I have had the opportunity to talk to thousands of students about my adventures in scientific exploration.
One such program, called "The Art of Exploration", It was a pleasure to travel and talk to kids with such adventurous spirits as ethnobotanist Sveva Gallman, adventure chronicler Milbry Polk, and dinosaur hunter Sue Hendrickson.
A key point in my message is always the importance of taking notes, and I try to show how creative musings and sketches have lead to
real-world projects.
Out of this came the idea of an "Explorers Passport" style notebook . The key thing from my point of view is to encourage young people to start recording observations and not feel self conscious or inhibited by a big blank page, but to get them started with little hints and examples along the pages within. Plus a cool place for a passport photo in the front.
I have made (or modified from off the shelf versions) and given away perhaps a hundred so far. It would be great to find a way to provide them to every student that attends these programs and presentations, and that's going to take some more work.
If you want to help me towards this goal, buy a set of Never Lost Explorers Notebook for the burgeoning adventurers that you know. The earliest will have to be "hand made" and take a while to deliver, but I'm hoping that with some volume we could speed up the delivery process.
One such program, called "The Art of Exploration", It was a pleasure to travel and talk to kids with such adventurous spirits as ethnobotanist Sveva Gallman, adventure chronicler Milbry Polk, and dinosaur hunter Sue Hendrickson.
A key point in my message is always the importance of taking notes, and I try to show how creative musings and sketches have lead to
real-world projects.
Out of this came the idea of an "Explorers Passport" style notebook . The key thing from my point of view is to encourage young people to start recording observations and not feel self conscious or inhibited by a big blank page, but to get them started with little hints and examples along the pages within. Plus a cool place for a passport photo in the front.
I have made (or modified from off the shelf versions) and given away perhaps a hundred so far. It would be great to find a way to provide them to every student that attends these programs and presentations, and that's going to take some more work.
If you want to help me towards this goal, buy a set of Never Lost Explorers Notebook for the burgeoning adventurers that you know. The earliest will have to be "hand made" and take a while to deliver, but I'm hoping that with some volume we could speed up the delivery process.
