"Whoa, take ‘er easy there, Pilgrim” - John Wayne
Maybe its COVID but I’ve been thinking a lot about traveling, and about pilgrimages in particular.
When I think of pilgrims I think of Plymouth Rock and Thanksgiving. When I think of pilgrimages I think of people who travel to religious sites such as Mecca, Jerusalem, Iona in Scotland or Shikoku in Japan.
However, isn’t a human life itself also a pilgrimage of sorts? There’s a beginning and an end with passages throughout. There’s repeated transitions from what is known to what is unknown, a classic attribute of a pilgrimage. Consider for example going from high school to college, getting married, having children or retirement. More broadly, there is the lifelong discovery of values, meanings and purposes often revising and transforming themselves over time.
And what about viewing pilgrimages as metaphors, as Phil Cousineau describes in The Art of Pilgrimage? Viewed thus, a pilgrimage with the proper attitude and intention is any journey that has a purpose of "finding something that matters deeply". It could be traveling to a family homestead where one grew up, a visit to a special place in nature, or going to a museum to experience special artifacts that "matter deeply".
A couple of years ago I attended the 90th birthday party for an aunt in another state where I had grown up - Kentucky. At some point it became clear to me that I wanted to visit a psychiatrist I’d seen in Kentucky almost 50 years previously when I was in college. He was not only a psychiatrist but also had a strong spiritual influence on me, introducing me to meditation and supporting me spiritually in many ways. He was now long retired and living alone on a small farm about an hour’s drive from where my aunt lived. I had not seen him in many years and he was now near 90 himself.
John Parks, M.D.
Even with GPS it was a challenge to locate the farm and eventually I had to stop and ask for directions. We spent the afternoon sitting on his porch, drinking tea and taking-in the Eastern Kentucky foot hills in the distance. We talked about all matter of topics psychological, philosophical, and spiritual. As hunger stirred we picked fresh lettuce from his garden and made a salad.
Beads given at meditation initiation 1970
John had been a robust athlete in college, ran track and had lived a healthy lifestyle; but it was clear that aging had taken its measure. In retrospect, I realized that in my traveling to see him I had paid my respects to him, honored him, and expressed my gratitude for all that he had done for me when I was a young man. I never saw or spoke to him again. A few months later he died.
The All Things Contemplative podcast will feature an episode on pilgrimage with Regina Goetz Roman in the early New Year - stay tuned.