The Rootless Man

Alex was born in Ukraine, spent a third of his life in Canada and is now traveling the world to find an ideal place to settle in.

Alex is a rootless man.

While many Ukrainians feel proud of their country of origin, no matter the conditions, Alex is indifferent. Ukraine has a rich history, thousand-year-old traditions, culture, its own language. People share the same ethnicity. What else do you need to feel at home? Perhaps, the problem lay in his personal life. A fatherless childhood, a mostly absent hard-working mother of three, a disconnected extended family. Alex had to be on his own, learn the way of life without much guidance, by trial and error. He always had friends, loyal although few in number. But mentally, he was a lone wolf, exploring the woods of life relying on intuition. It is no wonder that Alex has never had any attachment to the motherland. If his immediate family played no important part in his life, what feelings could he have towards the super-extended family called Ukraine?

When he moved to Canada, the same indifference guided his actions. The new jurisdiction was just a place of residence, nothing more. He felt no attachment to the "Canadian way". As matter of fact, he disagreed with most of it. Behind its tidy outwards appearance he saw no meaning, no soul. Not to mention the fact that you need a licence for every fart you want to produce. But the streets were clean, crime rates were low, the so-called "quality of life" was high. A golden cage, it was. An accommodating place to learn to jump from branch to branch, but not so good when you want to fly free.

Traveling the world was exciting at first. "I could be a permanent nomad!" Alex thought. But, with time, it became evident that this wandering led nowhere in particular. It did reflect his inner state, however—the wandering of the mind, the search for meaning, the ultimate goal. His journey of Becoming has been turbulent, to say the least. Left and right has he been thrown by the Universe in his explorations, sometimes changing opinions one-eighty within a matter of days. Alex has no doubt that the physical realm is only a mirror of the world within. And if the inner kingdom is undergoing a massive metamorphosis, how can he expect stability in the world of matter? The rootless man accepts this state of affairs: it is necessary, but temporary.

One thing Alex is sure of is that he does not want his descendants to walk the same path. Where there should be a sense of belonging, there is a void. The void must be filled for the sake of future generations. The rootless man must become the root from which the stem of his legacy grows.

Not to say that the process of Becoming will ever stop. But the foundation of Alex' being will one day solidify. He will stand firm on a concrete base upon which a temple will be erected. The construction of the temple of his Soul is the Grand Work. Without a solid foundation you cannot start, lest you see it crumble. Patience is key.

How many other rootless men are there? Have they always been this way or have they just become disillusioned with their community? Will they all come to the same conclusion that settling down becomes, at some point, necessary? There is a great many, Alex thinks. And if he can find others like him who also share his values, together, they can plant the seeds of a new garden. Like flowers, their children will be rooted in this new community. They will belong. With enough time, a whole nation may form.

The sacred inner temple that Alex is about to build will have to manifest without, in the world of matter. A life-long process, it may take a while to materialize. But one day, he will walk down the public square of his glorious Citadel and realize that this is his home and its residents are his family. The man has become the root.