Is the journey more important than the destination?

[Bloodshadow]

I say that the journey is NEVER more important than the destination. The universe is deterministic; our actions and choices are dominated by cause and effect. We do everything for a reason. If there is no reason, we wouldn't even be doing it. In some cases you may argue otherwise, such as that the process of learning is more important than the result, but the "destination" of becoming educated is still more important than the "journey" of education. In other cases, you're simply not aware of your true destination. For example, if you say that the journey of learning is more important because it is enjoyable, unlike the destination, then your true destination is not just to become educated, but to become educated and become happy at the same time. Sure, the occasional serendipity is nice, but those are impossible to predict, so I consider them too unreliable to be important. What do you think?

[maverixk]

Well, what is important to you may not be important to me, and vice versa. So it's very subjective.

[Astrocyte]

There's no destinations without journeys, though, so I'm not comfortable saying that a measurable end result somehow has more value than the process of getting there.

I do agree that most processes end up with multiple results in addition to whichever results were planned or intended.

[Rutarete]

@BS are you saying that the journey is to become educated or that just yours is?

[fenix2011]

I say that the journey is NEVER more important than the destination. The universe is deterministic; our actions and choices are dominated by cause and effect. We do everything for a reason. If there is no reason, we wouldn't even be doing it. In some cases you may argue otherwise, such as that the process of learning is more important than the result, but the "destination" of becoming educated is still more important than the "journey" of education. In other cases, you're simply not aware of your true destination. For example, if you say that the journey of learning is more important because it is enjoyable, unlike the destination, then your true destination is not just to become educated, but to become educated and become happy at the same time. Sure, the occasional serendipity is nice, but those are impossible to predict, so I consider them too unreliable to be important. What do you think?

Couldn't I conversely argue that only the journey is important.. The journey is the process of enjoying life, of making progress through it.. as a consequence of learning you arrive at the destination (having learnt). That is irrelevant, the point was the path you chose.

Since the world is infinitely complex and you cannot predict the outcome of every possible action from every possible entity.. any focus on the destination is pointless. Instead you pick a path, a journey, and make the most of the travel along that. A wise person will attempt of course to navigate away from bad outcomes and towards better outcomes, but since we cannot control anything outside of our own choice (which have a huge impact) you pick the path.

While the determinism concept works great in a closed environment, controlled variable laboratory.. you can't begin to get anywhere near that in real life.

[maverixk]

Just a nit-picky thing, the world isn't infinitely complex, we just don't understand it all yet.

[fenix2011]

Just a nit-picky thing, the world isn't infinitely complex, we just don't understand it all yet.

Sure but if you consider the whole thing to 'solve' chess (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solving_chess)

Actually absolute certainty over anything real world is arguably pretty close to infinite.. That said, you don't need to 'solve' it to make a better prediction. My point was more that destinations are not so certain in our world.. making the journey (overcoming obstacles, taking chances, serendipity) all the more important.

[Bloodshadow]

There's no destinations without journeys

No. It's the other way around. There will no journeys without intended destinations.

The journey is the process of enjoying life, of making progress through it.

No. If that's what you want from learning, then your true destination is to enjoy life and make progress. The destination is the purpose. Without it, your entire journey is nothing.

I suppose a better questions would be this. Is the process more important than the purpose? I say no.

[BluePriest]

Both are equally more important. Sometimes a simple destination can have many enlightening points, enough to make the journey alone the most valuable thing you got out of the trip. Meanwhile, sometimes the journey will be uneventful, while the destination was the only redeeming factor.

For Ex
I go to Ohio to visit family. The car ride is my destination. During that 12 hour drive nothing exciting happens. The journey, aside from teaching me patience, is worthless.

I go to wal mart 5 minutes away from my house. On my way, I decide to turn on the radio, and a news station talks a bout a hurricane that is going to hit florida. I have a friend who lives in florida and I call them (still on the way to wal mart). I warn them of the hurricane, and they were not aware of it. They are alive just because of me. I reach wal mart. The destination has little significance compared to the journey.

Overall I would say it is the destination that really matters, but it can go either way.

[Shaliyah]

I agree and disagree at the same time. Some people focus only on the path, some others only on the destination, the point is to find the balance. When your destination seems far away and you find obstacles in your way preventing you for coming closer, just let it flow and don't push things. Your subconsciousness is already programmed in that way so as you to achieve your goal.

[maverixk]

I go to wal mart 5 minutes away from my house. On my way, I decide to turn on the radio, and a news station talks a bout a hurricane that is going to hit florida. I have a friend who lives in florida and I call them (still on the way to wal mart). I warn them of the hurricane, and they were not aware of it. They are alive just because of me. I reach wal mart. The destination has little significance compared to the journey.

Overall I would say it is the destination that really matters, but it can go either way.

Well, see in this example, there's the journey to walmart, and there's also the journey to call your friend, the destination being him moving to safety.

[Pineapple]

To me, a "journey" is just a chain of "destinations."

The only difference between my "destination" and your destination is the intent of the journey, where, if I've read your posts correctly, each journey must lead to the intended destination for it to be a destination.
If you say that the state of being at the intended destination is more important than the events that led to the intended destination, then I would interject that you learn/experience many things outside of that what you intended to learn. Consider the story of Around the World in 80 Days.

Now, if you believe that destinations are only the state of being, not the intended subset of elements that directly cause the state of being, then I will go back to my first definition of "journey." Each and every state of being is just as important as the "final" state of being that they lead to.