Getting Lost, Essay Example

Getting lost is by no means a necessarily bad thing, certainly not when urgency isn’t an issue and you have the chance to be “nowhere” for a while. We all usually operate in a directional way, and a stop anywhere most often means nothing more than one in a series of destinations reached for the day. When we choose to step off this track, we open ourselves up to the unforeseen, and even in the most tame places.

For me, museums were made for rambling and aimlessness. So many worlds connect within them that being “lost” inside very nearly has a theme park feel to it; there’s just an amazing assortment of things to capture your attention and get your mind going in places in would normally never approach. This also has very little to do with whatever art is on display, although at its worst the art comes in very handy.

Museums, in fact, are far more about people to me, than they are about art display. The spaces are usually clean and streamlined, with many rooms and winding avenues to them. In these spaces, I have the remarkable option of jumping completely into myself or of taking in my fellow man in whatever spirit seizes me. The quiet and reflective quality of a museum allows me to mull over anything, or nothing at all. I can let my mind empty, then be occupied with whatever stray idea a painting or sculpture accidentally inspires. Then, I have the freedom to really lose myself and spy, in a sense, on the world. I can try to read minds, or I can take a random bit of an overheard conversation and weave it into a complete screenplay.

When people fight to preserve museums, they are fighting the good fight because these places are vital for a civilized society. The art can be wonderful, and I have no issue with that being the obvious reason for a museum’s existence, but what’s far more important is that we have these spaces to wander in. As badly as we need to find ourselves, we need to lose ourselves once in a while, too, if only to give the mechanism a rest. For me, there is no better place in which to be happily and pointlessly “lost”.