Excerpts - The Traveler and The Tripper

Excerpt from Newport Beach 1980 Workshop

(What’s the traveler and tripper story you tell regarding enlightenment which can also be applied to other areas of living?)

Travelers and trippers - - ok - - we’ll try to work on that one a little bit.  A person who is free or is an integrated individual is called a traveler in some language.  So is that all right?  It doesn't mean we'd always have to use that term; but it is used in some lingo.  So a traveler is not going anywhere in particular, he's traveling; and this is generally given as a symbol of the traveler; and it doesn't matter whether he's here or here or here or here or here or what's going on there because he is “on the path” or “way” and he is living it, he's not trying to get to an “end” somewheres.  In other words he doesn't have a goal - - you can check out anything we talk about here. 

Now we’ve mentioned at times about the fourth wise man, huh? Now he was a traveler.  So his compadres started at point A and went to point B, and then their chore was done.  Now that's a person on a trip, ok?  Now the trip has a definite goal or something to accomplish; and so they were to see a certain person when they got there, and they did that. 

There is no point A and B - - no start and no finish with the traveler - - so the fourth wise man had an aim to get from point A to point B, but he never got there.  So as he went along, he found a poor old guy lying in the desert burning up with fever with nobody to look after him; so the traveler stopped, took care of him and that was it.  He was just a traveler anyway.  He continued on and found some little girl being sold into slavery, so he took some object that he had that would purchase her, bought her and set her free - - it doesn't make any difference.  Now he didn't see any obstructions to his purpose. 

Now if anything happened along here, the trippers would be very impatient or very upset about it - - would possibly say it was so necessary to get to point B over here and complete what they set out to do, that they would have ignored the sick old guy lying beside the road or the girl being sold into slavery or an animal being mistreated.  The traveler even bought a donkey along the way because the man was beating the donkey and not feeding it.    So the person on the trip or  the “tripper” as we call him,  couldn't stop and be bothered with all that.  He has to be on his way. 

The traveler works with whatever's here in the moment.  So if he sees something that requires that he be here for three weeks - - so what, he is not intervened. He is a traveler at that particular place and he's doing what seems “to be there to do”, ok?  And so he is not coming from any one spot nor going to any other spot.  There's no point A and B.  And I think this is a sign of infinity.  He is a “completed man” and is a person no longer looking for a given destination or a goal.  He is not trying to “gain something” or “get something”.  He is “doing” something.  So he's traveling and whatever presents itself at any given spot, that's what he does; and he knows no interference or second force, ok?  That help answer it ok - - so far, so good?  All right. 
The world is full of trippers and very few travelers, ok?  Lots of folks are on a little trip.  They're on a trip to be integrated or to be whole or complete.  The traveler says, "Well, I'm doing alright, right here - - I can take care of what’s going on right here, right now - - that’s the person who truly is “on the path” as it’s commonly called.  And he’s not headed anywhere. 

Most people say they’re on the path - - they’re headed for a given accomplishment or some goal or some prize or some illusion that they’ve dreamed up; and those we call trippers.  They are not travelers of “the way”. 

It’s been around for a long time - - I have it written where it was transcribed out of a talk we gave 10 years ago or so - - so it’s been around a long time.  Now are you a traveler?  If you take care of whatever shows up here, then there’s no such thing as an interference, no such thing as second force - - nobody’s interfering with you - - that’s just what showed here. 

You’ve all read the story about the Good Samaritan - - he was a traveler.  The other guys mentioned in the story were all trippers.  They were headed somewhere with many misconceptions and conclusions about the man in the ditch; and they couldn’t be bothered with a guy beat up and lying there in the ditch - - who’s got time to stop.

There is a Sufi story told of two guys were traveling and they came by an ant hill; and the traveler said he heard some of the ants down there that seemed to be struggling with a big rock - - maybe they ought to dig down and open it up.  The tripper was in a hurry to get on with his trip, so he kept insisting - - “We can’t stop here and fiddle with a durn ant hill. We got to go on.” 

Later they came to a tree and the traveler heard bees singing in it, and the traveler saw the bees had something going on wrong; and suggested if they opened it up, they could get a lot of honey and also be of assistance to the bees, but the tripper said, “Why bother with that.” 

Finally at a teahouse one night - - another bunch of people caught up with them and they, too, had noticed the ants struggling there; so they dug down and found great gobs of gold that the ants couldn’t get around.  And so the tripper was all upset because the traveler hadn’t had him stop, you know - - hadn’t insisted on it. 

Same thing with the bees.  So there was endless number of things that the tripper was in such a hurry that he ignored - - he refused to be in the present.  The traveler kept saying, “Let’s do this - - it’s here at hand - - we don’t know what’s over there.”  But the tripper never would stop - - so, yes, it’s a very common little story of the “travelers” and the “trippers’. 

I just get it down where you don’t have to interpret it.  I just figure - - you know - - that most people are not into seeing what the subtle point is.  So the story is describing a traveler and a tripper setting off together.  There are many versions of this little story.

But it is a most interesting idea to keep in mind as to “what am I doing?”  Am I a traveler or am I just running on little spasmodic trips out here.  The traveler has a great joy, and is a completed being and experiences no frustrations, has no obstructions to his way. 

The tripper has nothing but obstructions and struggle to get to where he’s going; and he has nothing when he gets there. 

Want to be a traveler?

So the traveler takes care of whatever presents itself at the moment - - I wasn’t going anywhere anyway, I was just traveling.  And the traveler is on the road of infinity - - the other is on a very limited road - - the end’s right here, ok? 

in·fin·i·ty - synonyms: endlessness, boundlessness, limitlessness;