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Why do seeking souls run off to India, and now to Japan, as they ran off to Europe in Emerson's time? If they had a less confused conception of the Overself, a clearer idea of what they sought, none of them would feel that he had to go to this or that country, place, person. But the tendencies inherited from former births and pushing him one way or pulling him toward somewhere else, set up this urge to move away and meet new experience, new people, perhaps new masters. In particular, they draw him back to the scene of previous lives which powerfully affected his spiritual seeking. This is attractive to him, perhaps even emotionally romantic, but it gives him nothing really that he has not in fact had before.

-- Notebooks Category 1: Overview of the Quest > Chapter 5 : Self-Development > # 284