Robert Macfarlane, The Old Ways

Great book by Robert Macfarlane, "The Old Ways" (NY: Viking, 2013).

This choice line about pilgrimage:

...many of Chaucer’s pilgrims traveled on horseback; while the hajj to Mecca now involves air travel for the majority of pilgrims. But there are two obvious differences between walking and vehicular travel. The first is that walking is a full-body experience; mind and body function inseparably, such that thought becomes both site-specific and motion-sensitive. The second is that on foot you are unshielded from the world. There is no sheltering glass or steel between you and the weather, and whoever or whatever you might encounter. Walking a path, you greet or chat with the people you meet: I can’t remember ever having flagged down a stranger’s car on the other side of the highway to talk things over.

Here's link to the book review of the book in NYT: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/05/travel/why-walk.html?_r=0

The road, friends: the road calls!

Buen camino!

Brett

What is a pilgrimage?

Happy New Year!

I asked "ask.com" what is a pilgrimage.

The answer?

A pilgrimage is a journey in which one travels a distance to pay their respects to a religious icon. Some people go on pilgrimages so they can be healed. A pilgrimage is often considered as a transformational journey during which significant changes takes place in one's life.

I believe "a transformational journey" with "significant changes" taking place in my life is about to happen in 2014.

The School of the Pilgrim will continue to grow this year in new and unexpected ways.

Pax!

Brett

p.s., above is a symbol of/for balance.  I'll need it this year.

Saints on Pilgrimage

One of the lines I repeat on all pilgrimages has to do with saints.

Saints are our guide and accompanier--and sometimes those who shove us--forward on pilgrimage.

Without them, we'd be lost.

On this holy day, All Saints' Day, we are glad that All Hallows' Eve scared the bejezus out of evil, making today the precious and holy day it is as we remember saints.

I remember Sts. Cuthbert and Adrian who were with us as we walked along Hadrian's Wall this past spring, and glad they were there to accompany us in spirit and story.  Thankful for Venerable Bede for writing their stories, along with Oswald's story.

Thankful for modern day saints.

Remembering my grandparents this day: Alice, Paul, Evelyn, and Porter.  Remembering my dad, Don.

Lord in your mercy...hear our prayer.

Buen Camino!

Brett

Ithaca by Cavafy

I like this statement by the poet Cavafy:

When you set out on the voyage to Ithaca, 

pray that your journey may be long, 

full of adventure, full of knowledge.

Solvitur Ambluando: It is solved by walking

Great article this morning in Huffingtonpost.com, by Arianna Huffington on the good that is generated by walking: Diogenes' of the 4th century (BCE) wrote "solvitur ambulando" or it is solved by walking.

Diogenes understood what we who do pilgrimage know full well: there is "medicine" in the art of walking.  Jefferson agreed.  Hemingway did it too. As does Wendell Berry, who said that we think pr process information at about the same rate by which we walk. Nietzsche thought that walking was necessary for resolving issues or coming up with great thoughts.

Buen camino!

Brett

One step

My brother-in-faith, Paul, reminded me of this simple yet difficult path:

One foot in front of the other.

A long journey.

Many unexpected experiences.

Inside and out.

Both on the walk and during rest times.

A teacher.

A pilgrim.

One day, one foot, one swing of the arm.

Forward.

Backward.

But with courage.

Lessons from Hadrian's Wall Pilgrimage

There are many lessons learned from Hadrian's Wall pilgrimage, so let me begin reflecting here, adding on to the list in the days to come:

First, I don't control weather on pilgrimage.  No one does.  Weather happens, so get over it.  Pick up our umbrella, galoshes, or put on sunscreen and t shirt, and move forward.  Live with the weather rather than fight it. I can wish and pray for a change in weather--and I've lived in enough places where people say that if you stay put, the weather will change more to our liking--but I/we do not control weather.  It is out of our control...as is most of life (98%).