Saturday, July 26, 2008

Martin Buber Understood Pilgrimage


Tonight on Garrison Keillor's "Prairie Home Companion" radio show (7/26/08, broadcast/aired on WUNC, 91.5), Garrison made this point about pilgrimage and journey by the philosopher Martin Buber that I had to write about: All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware. The truth of this statement in regards to pilgrimage resonated in the deepest parts of my life and life-experiences. On pilgrimage, while I think I know about the physical, geographical destination, clearly the relational, spiritual, educational, psychological, intellectual, and physical destination or goal or purpose remain, at best intangible...or at worst totally incomprehensible, and thus missed totally by the pilgrim or pilgrims. Buber simply reminds us that pilgrimage is not a "sure fire thing," in which goals and purposes and behaviors can be quantified, known, studied, put on a chart, examined, and parsed. Pilgrimage is all being in the moment, reflecting upon the moments, living in the wonder of it all, before, during and afterwards.

The journey is "on"!

Buen camino!

Pilgrim peace, Brett

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