And if Amsterdam was hell, and if hell was a memory, then he realized that perhaps there was some purpose to his being lost. Cut off from everything that was familiar to him, unable to discover even a single point of reference, he saw that his steps, by taking him nowhere, were taking him him nowhere but into himself. He was wandering inside himself, and he was lost. Far from troubling him, this state of being lost because a source of happiness, of exhilaration. He breathed it into his very bones. As if on the brink of some previously hidden knowledge, he breathed it into his very bones and said to himself, almost triumphantly: I am lost. Paul Auster
About This Quote

The idea that we are in a constant state of movement, always changing and morphing is one of the most fundamental ideas in the human condition. We are constantly moving through life. We start as children and grow into teenagers and then as young adults and as we age we eventually move on to middle age and eventually to our final years. For those who live their entire lives in a state of motion, it is easy to believe that we are lost.

That we have no sense of self is one of the most common feelings that come with change and growth. Rather than having a sense of self that is separate from the rest of the world, we feel lost within ourselves. We feel like we are drifting through life, without any point of reference.

Source: The Invention Of Solitude

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