Monday, February 7, 2011

Does the road make the traveler, or the traveler the road?

27 comments:

  1. I think the road makes the traveler. The road was in all likelihood there first, and will remain after the traveler has come and gone.

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  2. Ask Robert Frost--I think he knows.

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  3. The road makes the traveler, the traveler changes while travelling by the road.

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  4. The traveler and the road are the same thing. They're just different states, at different times, of the same being.

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  5. Neither...its the journey and the experiences that count.

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  6. Traveler stamps on the grass, killing it. When many travelers do that, a path is created, of dead grass. Then men organize themselves to build a road on the route. So, ultimately, traveler creates the road. As to WHY they all chose the path, that's a more interesting question

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  7. Well, while I tend to agree at first that the road makes the traveler because as we progress, we are forever altered by life, depending on how a situation is handled, 2 people will be changed in very different ways by the same road. So I gotta say a little bit of both.

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  8. I think first the road makes the traveler and then the traveler makes the road.

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  9. It has to be an interaction between the two...we interact with the world and the world interacts with us. No man is an island, and an Island wouldn't be the same without men.

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  10. Like Lauren, I believe it to be both.

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  11. The road is defined by its traveler and traveler by the road he takes.

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  12. I suppose it depends upon what vehicle the traveler is in or on.

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  13. I don't really wish to analyse the statement and distort it. I guess the thought u've raised is important and complete in itself.

    "Does the road make the traveler, or the traveler the road?" sounds perfect to me..!

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  14. I go with Rek, it's the journey that makes it!

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  15. As few other have mentioned as well, it's a bit of both !! Interestingly a lot of poetry & music is about our anticipation, reflection & assimilation of this passage !

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  16. maybe, the road makes the road and the traveler makes the traveler.. lol

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  17. It depends on the traveler and his personality, goals, etc. If the traveler is a leader than most likely he is forming the road that he is traveling on, therefore allowing others to travel on that same road. If the traveler is a follower than the road has already been made by the person ahead of him and that road will begin to make the traveler, hopefully building him to the point in which he can become a leader and create his own road.

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  18. I think it wholly depends on the traveller. Still, I believe everyone is shaped by their experiences. My answer? It's a bit of both.

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  19. I sense a bit of deja vu coming on...the road goes ever on and on down from the door from whence we began...but don't tell nobody.

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  20. Interesting question. You're aphorism often have much more self-evident interpretations, but this one I'm not sure about.

    I'll go with neither, wondering who is the traveller and what is the road?

    Would be interesting to hear your own answer. :-)

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  22. One thing's for sure--travelers have less fun on roads already made.

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  23. Is this a question that's meant to be answered? Or one to keep our hearts and minds open? Sometimes, I like not concluding :)

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  24. We might choose the road, but the choice will shape our journey. You can't have one without the other. But it's important to remember that at any time, we can get off that path and choose another one.

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  25. As a great believer in destiny i will have to say the road :)

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  26. How very Taoist of you!
    How about "If you see Buddha in the road, run him over?"

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