Sisyphus
goes to
Sydney
A solo pilgrimage from
Melbourne to Sydney
“A pilgrimage is one of the basic modes of walking,
walking in search of something intangible.” (1)
Why?
There are three distinct species of land iguanas at the Galapagos Island, including the only sea-going lizard in the world. It’s believed that these evolved from the geographical barrier created by the islands. Populations on separate islands didn't meet each other so their sets of genes had the opportunity to drift away from one another.
“…it is mainly separations of this kind that were originally responsible
for all the new species that have ever arisen in this planet." (2)
Can the same be applied to ideas?
In an increasingly connected world, ideas might be similar to one successful colony of iguanas - there are many of them, but all very much alike.
With 54,519 departures in 2017, Melbourne to Sydney is the second busiest domestic air route in the world. Does the amount of ideas generated by the connectivity between Sydney and Melbourne come at the expense of the diversity of ideas?
What would be the benefit of traveling between Melbourne and Sydney by foot and in solitude to contemplate an idea and the thoughts derived? Temporary isolation, of the kind experienced during pilgrimage journeys, might create an idea with its unique ‘DNA’ that would guarantee its survival.
Sisyphus meets Camus
Punished by Greek Gods to roll a big boulder up a hill that rolled down when it reached the top, Sisyphus inspired Albert Camus to address what he believed to be the most important question of all: what is the meaning of life? The importance of such a question is only increasing as technology is redefining what it means to be human -and our purpose.
In this walk Sisyphus is both, the method and idea to incubate.
Through the seemingly meaningless and repetitive action of putting one foot in front of the other for more than 1,400,000 times I will try to find purpose in a post-cognitive era.
(1) Rebecca Solnit, Wanderlust
(2) Richard Dawkins, The Magic of Reality