For some, a pilgrimage implies risk. In the past, some pilgrims took chances in favor of spiritual opportunity and awakening, including the famous Pilgrims who crossed the Atlantic Ocean seeking religious freedom.
Today, physical risk is not necessary, but taking spiritual chances--testing yourself--can be helpful.
Choose your quest. What areas of your spiritual life could most benefit from exploration?
For example:
-- Do you need to find a stronger sense of self?
-- Would you grow more by reconnecting with Nature and the enduring aspects of your environment?
-- Should you step out of your personal cave--perhaps that insulating shell that protects you from (often unintended) hurts--and establish stronger connections with the people around you?
Perhaps your quest can be stated in a simple sentence, or as a question. Maybe it's not that easy to explain, but you know that something is missing in your life, and it's time to find it.
Many people choose pilgrimages to holy sites such as Lourdes, Rome, Mecca, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, or Jerusalem. These are places of spiritual healing and miracles. If you have the resources for that kind of trip, perhaps it's time for your sacred journey.
But, your quest can be completed closer to home. Consider these challenges as a means of personal and spiritual growth:
-- Spend a weekend camping in your backyard, as if you were a hundred miles from home. Turn off the phone, cook outdoors over a wood fire (if that's appropriate), forget your computer and email, and enjoy the stillness of Nature just outside your back door.
-- Turn off the TV and all "noisy" media including the radio and your sound system for a week. If you can, also keep the computer off, at least when you aren't at work. Add an optional "news fast," and do not read or listen to news reports for a week. See how you feel at the end of that week, and restore only those media which actually support your happiness and personal growth.
-- Open a map of the area where you live, and put a pin at your hometown. From that pin, extend a string or piece of yarn representing a half-day's drive, perhaps 100 miles. Now, with your eyes closed, swing that string around and then stop it, resting anywhere on the map. Open your eyes, and see where it is. Spend a weekend in that place, discovering what is there. Perhaps it holds some hidden truths that will assist you on your quest.
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