The Scenery Away From Home

We needed to go to a funeral out of town today, 60 miles in a direction and place we don't ordinarily go. I've been there before but it's very rare.

We noticed the scenery seemed so much more wonderful than what we're used to seeing. The river, the lake, the trees, the quaint buildings (there weren't too many quaint buildings, I just threw that in.)

It made me think how ordinary everything around home seems, which must be the way it always is.

It reminds me of the contentment you can have by staying at home. It doesn't matter to me if I see great scenery in other places. I'm happy enough at home.

It's like in the Beatles' song "The Inner Light," which is quoting from the Tao Te Ching, "Without going out of your door, you can know the ways of heaven." I have a version of the Tao Te Ching, the Stephen Mitchell one, that says, (and I can't quote it), the people live next to a great country, but they never go there. Because they're content with their own place.