A Field Guide to Getting Lost

“Leave the door open for the unknown, the door into the dark. That’s where the most important things come from, where you yourself came from, and where you will go.”

This line underscores Solnit’s insistence that awareness of origins and destinations is central to presence. The open door functions as a metaphor for allowing the unexpected to enter, linking beginnings and endings in one gesture. It directly aligns with Disorientation as Discovery and Transformation by framing openness as the path to change.

“That thing the nature of which is totally unknown to you is usually what you need to find, and finding it is a matter of getting lost.”

By invoking Meno’s paradox, Solnit suggests that only through losing direction do we encounter what we most need. Getting lost becomes an epistemological stance rather than a mistake. This illustrates Disorientation as Discovery and Transformation by treating uncertainty as a method of finding.

“We treat desire as a problem to be solved, address what desire is for and focus on that something and how to acquire it rather than on the nature and the sensation of desire, though often it is the distance between us and the object of desire that fills the space in between with the blue of longing.”

Here desire is likened to distance, colored by the motif of blue. Solnit reframes longing as generative, creating a space for imagination between self and object. This directly engages Longing and Uncertainty as Destination.