Pilgrimage

"In each of us dwells a pilgrim. It is the part of us that longs to have direct contact with the sacred." The art of pilgrimage by Phil Cousineau

Like the quote above, I believe that there aren’t a select group of us that are meant to be pilgrims...But that all of us are.

That beneath our schedules and responsibilities, beneath our identities and accomplishments, there is something in each of us that longs, not simply to arrive somewhere, but to be transformed by the journey that is life.

When we hear the word pilgrimage, many of us imagine a sacred destination: the Camino, Jerusalem, Mecca, the Ganges. We think of sacred places that people have journeyed toward for centuries.

But for this conversation I would like us to consider that  pilgrimage is not about a single specially planned destination. Pilgrimage is the practice of walking with intention, allowing the road of life to teach us what we could not learn by standing still.

As Phil Cousineau describes it throughout The Art of Pilgrimage. Pilgrimage is travel with a sacred intention and being fully present to the sacred, to what matters in our lives in order for us to fully appreciate that grandeur of the life journey we are one

A destination may inspire us, challenge us, teach us new things through new experiences but it is the journey we are present to every day that opens us to divine inspiration.

The sacred isn’t waiting for us to get on a plane or drive off in a camper van down the road. The sacred is right here in the moment asking us to open our eyes to something that is new, something that is challenging, something that inspires us right where we are and most importantly on our pilgrimage… not to miss it! To open our eyes and experience this journey in its most numinous.

How is this sitting with you? What is coming up?

Every wisdom tradition speaks, in one way or another, of walking a path.

The Buddha spoke of the Noble Eightfold Path.

The Hebrew people wandered through the wilderness, discovering that freedom is learned one step at a time.

Jesus spent much of his ministry on the road, encountering people as he walked from village to village.

Sufi mystics speak of the journey back to the Beloved.

Many Indigenous traditions remind us that we are always walking in relationship—with the earth beneath our feet, with one another, with our ancestors, and with those yet to come.

The same invitation. To keep walking in relationship, in awareness.

The other thing I think about with pilgrimage is that the pilgrim doesn’t always know exactly where they are going or how they will get there and even what the final destination will be.

Pilgrims don't always know exactly where they are going. And isn't that true of our own lives?

Very few of us are living the life we imagined twenty years ago.

There have been unexpected turns. Losses we never would have chosen. Joys we never saw coming. Encounters that quietly changed us. Moments that seemed insignificant at the time, but looking back became turning points.

The poet Antonio Machado wrote, "Traveler, there is no path; the path is made by walking."

Perhaps every act of kindness lays another stone on the path. Every difficult conversation.

Every moment of forgiveness. Every time we choose curiosity instead of judgment.

Every time we get up and begin again aware of th place where we faltered or the lesson we learned or the divine energy that we experienced by watching, experiencing, being curious. Phil Cousineau also writes that one of the ancient functions of pilgrimage is to wake us from our slumber.

The ancient functions of pilgrimage is to wake us from our slumber. To wake up. To notice the sacred in ordinary moments.

To realize that the pilgrimage isn't waiting for us somewhere else. It is happening right here—in this conversation, this breath, this community, this season of our lives.

Perhaps the sacred destination we've been seeking has been quietly walking beside us all along.

How does that sit with you? Is anything coming up?

May we trust the path, even when we cannot see around the next moment, the next corner.

May we travel lightly enough to be changed.

May we recognize companions along the way.

And may we discover that every step in this marvelous numinous journey we are on, taken with awareness and love, is itself holy. May it be so.