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All Life is defined by movement of some kind. All movement requires that a "better" future is anticipated, and ideally there is some sensory apparatus that grounds this anticipation in real information. Prediction of possible futures is based on past experiences. So movement integrates past, present and future in a rather interesting way, and smudges the present moment across a considerable interval of time.
There is no point moving unless the motion will gain (in the future) more energy than the motion expends. So any organism that has the capacity to move is engaged in an attempt to predict the future – that is exercised as much in the decision to not move as it is in movement. And all motion is organised around a best guess as to the end point of motion – relative to the external world and relative to the body (the internal world). You could say that movement links internal and external through both space and time. All this is usually done in a mainly non-conscious way, and occurs at the level of life where a single cell with a single flagellum (such as a sperm) decides to expend energy in the expectation of a better future in a different place, whether that is literally better, or is simply a place of less danger. Exploration is a further development in which the possibility of something beneficial to look forward to does not necessarily have to be very high.
The motivation and impulse to explore comes out of a wildness and is tinged with hopeful anticipation, promise, expectation and excitement. If something unexpectedly positive emerges from the exploration we may feel amazement, astonishment, wonder, gratitude and appreciation, even awe.
Exploration is not just a finding a "what", but is very much about moving through a "where" (a-where-ness) with its own distinct geography and accompanying characteristics that might give clues to where next holds the greatest promise, and signposts – waymarkers that reveal how we might to return to and re-discover it in the future. These clues require naming so that they have a clarity – allowing them to be re-called with confidence. Survival-important places end up etched in the memory, and all relationality occurs within a context of spacial orientation, direction and place - that is an intrinsic part of the total relational field. We are, after all, relational with and to in a subjective, personal and subjective way that McGilchrist attributes to the Right cortex. A small hidden quarry on Dartmoor that stumbled into when I was about eight years old that was full of awe-inspiring crystal clear water and dragonflies was surprisingly easy to find again when I revisited the area some 40 years later. Matriarch goats might lead their flock to find new sources of food along footpaths they have not visited for 10 or 20 years.
The act of navigation, is another form of movement that integrates physical movement (and its capacity to connect between space and past, present and future time) with the emotional and the imaginary and imaginal. These qualities are particularly evident in the books of Alan Garner and CS Lewis. This kind of geographic time-travel can invoke a vast spectrum of emotions, including fear and terror, wistfulness, sadness, wonder, joy, excitement, surprise and astonishment. The parts of your brain and soma that organise the sensorimotor system in exploration (see "Mirror Neurons") have little (if any) understanding of the difference between inside and outside, so internal awareness (interoception) is also a form of exploration .
Exploration is stopped in its tracks (or never even entered into) by fear, apprehension, doubt, trepidation, hopelessness, lassitude, discouragement, inertia, dullness and depression. To explore, one has to have some spare time – though just a few minutes can be enough. Hunter-gathering in an abundant landscape leaves many hours of free time. There has also to be curiosity. It’s important to discriminate between the kind of exploration driven by pure need – which is goal-focussed, time-constrained and stressful vs. the kind of exploration driven by an un-driven and totally open interest in what might be. I don’t think early humans filled the entire globe because they were desperately looking for the next meal, or that Jung, or Swedenborg, or Teresa of Avila explored their Souls because they were trying to root out all the defects. But rather, because most of the time they were "just" curious and optimistic and had an expansive and unlimited view of what might be possible.