The Art of Getting Lost (and Finding the Way Back)

by Roland Goity

Technology guides us effortlessly, but

what is lost when the human spirit and



will is no longer tested? It’s hard to lose

oneself (at least literally) now, GPS sensing



our every movement, so forgetting whether

to turn right or left when you come to the



intersection with the barn gutted by fire no

longer has the same consequences it once



did. Like white-knuckling your way across

dreary dark frontage roads in the Rocky



Mountain foothills during a building snowstorm

and realizing you mistakenly assumed the



fellow at the gas station meant the third left

ten miles back, since the second left didn’t



cross the bridge as he described. Yet, somehow,

hours later, after having imagined a million



scenarios, each of them bleak, you mustered

up whatever mental fortitude was required



to find the right way, and you did it often

enough to turn it into a form of art.