As I struggle mightily with the two—what seems to be—inevitable presidential candidates for the upcoming election for President of the United States, I feel a growing concern about the possibility of living effectively in a world (and nation) of challenge and radical discontinuity.

If you have known me long and have discussed my love of books and reading, you know that Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged is one of the most influential tomes of my life. I first read the book as a senior in high school and immediately upon finishing, turned to page one and reread it again. Since my eighteenth year, I have read this controversial and misunderstood work three more times.

In the riveting story, Rand describes a world much like ours, where influencers of the world disappear one at a time never to return to the status quo of modern society. Most of the people in Atlas Shrugged—just like our world today—are content to stay where they are. Perhaps even afraid to venture into the unknown. They ask, “Why leave the world we know?”

But there are always a few restless souls. In the words of Steve Jobs:

Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels. The trouble makers, the round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules and they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them… because they change things, they push the human race forward.

While the majority may see “crazy ones”, I see a tribe—a movement. People who are not content to spend their lives indoors. Restless ones. Ones who have to see what lies outside of “normal”. This is true of dreamers of every kind, but especially those of us who seek something more.

We search out kindred spirits, we question everything, and somehow we finally summon the courage to explore a region where few men have gone before—our internal consciousness. Not so much to discover the unknown but to know the knower, the I-Thou and I-It relationships that Martin Buber (a prominent twentieth century philosopher, religious thinker, political activist and educator) writes about.

People like us can be found in every age and every culture. While everyone else is content to stay put, we quietly slip away to see what lies beyond. And, as in Atlas Shrugged, some of us disappear. The world has no idea where we have gone, but every now and then, a blog post or Facebook status surfaces, and then, like friends sojourning in exotic lands, we send back reports: beautiful pictures of sunrises most of the world never see, rambling posts about a world beyond the ordinary, gentle pleas begging kindred spirits to come and see.

The guides in those unknown but knowing places can’t take you to your soul, but the wise ones will listen to you, help you, encourage you, and show you. They act not as guides with the right answers, but as ones with the right questions. They are “makers-see” who teach that it is our destiny as human beings to make this journey for ourselves.

They have found that everything else in life is secondary.

It is only in these unknown but knowing places that we summon the courage and take the time to explore the topography of our consciousness, look into the windows of our soul, and once our eyes begin to adjust—we can see, we begin to find our home, our North Star, our inner compass—who we really are and why we are here. We identify with our being instead of our doing.

We are not city-dwellers, born to a life in the herd and chained to a desk; we are meant to explore, to seek, to discover an inner life of fulfillment and meaning. We are meant to be equally at home in our body and our soul. Outwardly and inwardly—comfortable in our own skin and spirit. A place where soul meets body.

If upon reading this, a slight shiver goes up your spine, the words seem familiar, as old as time, you feel a calling to something more—much more—please know you are not alone.

Perhaps that is why Ayn Rand created Galt’s Gulch. I know that is why I created Kalien. This place we have slipped away to—is a place of peace, a place of solitude, and place of encouragement. The name Kalien comes from the greek word Kaleo which literally means: “”to call,” in the sense of inviting to one’s house, and is translated “I bid you, I call you (to a feast)”.

Kalien is an intoxicating feast of beauty for people who are not content to live on bread alone. A star-strewn place for those who are not content to spend their lives indoors. A place of peace that passes understanding for restless ones. A waking place for daydreamers.

In the words of Lawrence of Arabia: “All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible”.