What is the purpose of life? What is it that we seek? Is it happiness, peace, a sense of contentment? According to many spiritual texts, the ultimate purpose of humans is to realise that we and the cosmos are one. From that, which we came, to that we shall return — Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.
God, the universe, call the ultimate intelligence what you will, is characterised by three fundamental qualities, omnipresence, omnipotence, omniscience, that is, being eternal, all powerful and all knowing. Hence, as the children of God, this is what we all ultimately desire.

Now, there are many ways for the prodigal son to return home. However, the terrain is wrought with enticing distractions and temptations, ready to trap the senses of the unwary, the cultivation of wisdom should be the first priority for all seekers of truth.
“All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost.”
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring.
To travel the spiritual road alone is not at all easy, but it is necessary to be prepared for it, as fellow seekers are not in great abundance. So, while the large crowds burn up their life force with endless sense gratification, resolve to burn your karma and free the anchor of your mortality, and, in so doing, be done with all the pain and suffering, which unrealised human existence is necessarily burdened with.
As the tobacco burns in your pipe, releasing its sacred smoke to rise up into the ether, you, yourself, do the same with your life. Travel towards the horizon, where the ocean meets the sky, and become one with that, which lies beyond; and should you be fortunate enough to meet fellow travelers along the way, share your blessing with a communal song and pipe smoke, to fill all of your sails with joy for the long journey ahead.
Please enjoy my haiku The Traveler, and have a great trip, in whatever form it takes.
“Fair winds in his sails,
the traveler smokes his pipe.
The horizon calls.”