Beyond yourself | Editor’s letter #36

During her ten-month journey, hitchhiking from China back to Great Britain, photographer Chloe Dewe Mathews passed through Turkmenistan. There, she stood at the edge of the Darvaza gas crater (as seen on the cover) – a natural gas field that collapsed into a cavern and was set on fire by locals in the 1980s to prevent the spread of toxic gases. The photograph of this hybrid man/nature wonder is as magical as it is unsettling. It’s no surprise that this fiery circle earned the nickname ‘the gates of hell’.

This entire issue is all about journeys – pilgrimages that take us to inner depths and distant horizons, pushing us to physical or mental breaking points, to bringing hope, despair and revelation. For our widely beloved guide, poet, and traveller David Whyte, life itself is a pilgrimage. And so, we have documented stories of people who, by choice or by fate, undertook extraordinary journeys. But Whyte doesn’t ask you to crawl hundreds of kilometers on your knees, seek penance, or carry regret.  Instead, with his wise words, he gently invites you to become deeply attuned to what surrounds you – to see the world so clearly that it begins to look back at you. Whyte: ‘Just beyond yourself. It is where you need to be.’

See All This #36, winter 2024-2025 is out on 6 December.
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Header image:

Chloe Dewe Mathews, The Door to Hell, Darvaza,
Turkmenistan, 2012, from the series Caspian: the Elements