Does feeling peaceful in mountains but unhappy back in the city mean I visited the wrong place?

It does not necessarily mean that the place you visited was bad. I once answered a listener who had visited different mountains on two consecutive weekends. The listener felt relaxed and happy there, but very unhappy after returning to the city, and was also deeply moved by spirit-movement videos. Considering the description as a whole, I leaned toward understanding it in terms of the soul’s needs, rather than simply deciding that both places were wrong.

If it is this kind of condition described as ‘spirit pressing the body,’ drawing close to nature allows the inner self to relax, making the contrast more apparent on returning to ordinary life. Perhaps the work is not what the person wants to do. Perhaps there is a wish to draw close to deities and Buddhas or undertake spiritual practice that has continually been suppressed rather than faced. The mountains have not made the person worse. After relaxing, the person becomes more aware of unhappiness that was already within.

But life still has to be lived, and work and income also need attention. Discussing this example did not mean telling the listener to leave the city immediately and abandon practical reality. It meant understanding what was truly needed within and then considering possible adjustments. Similar feelings over two consecutive weekends formed part of the context for that assessment. We cannot reach the same conclusion for everyone from the single fact of feeling unhappy after returning to the city.

If you want to understand a situation from a religious perspective, first explain your circumstances clearly and then consider suitable assistance. This might involve divination or character reading, arranging meditation or providing scriptures to recite at home. Some people only consider membership later because they want to draw closer. There are many methods, and the individual circumstances still matter. Not everyone has to follow the same path.