Travel flirts with the unknown-that’s why we do it. There are a lot of responses appropriate to
the unfamiliar. Fear is one of them:
there is also resistance, denial, delight, hope, attention. Tourists respond to the unknown by consuming
it, whether by purchasing artifacts or doing ghost walks or buying
postcards. Pilgrims respond to the
unknown simply by being there.
Martha
Storz, The Progress of Pilgrimage
Journeys cross divides.
Once on the other side, the traveler remains the same person carrying
the same baggage. But on the other side
of certain divides, the traveler senses a new identity; that same baggage now
seems useful for a new purpose.
Arthur
Frank, The Wounded Storyteller
I’m building out the distinction below between service learning,
pilgrimage and tourism.
Servants go to do, tourists go to consume, and pilgrims go
to receive.
We’ll probably do a bit of everything and we’ll probably do
all three.
Martha
Stortz, The Progress of Pilgrimage
I give thanks for arriving safely in a new dawn , for the
gift of eyes to see the world, the gift of mind to feel at home. In my life, the waves of possibility breaking
on the shore of dawn, the harvest of the past, that awaits my hunger and all
the furtherings this new day will bring.
John O”Donohue, To Bless the Space Between Us
To become a pilgrim is understood as a way of looking at
life itself: constantly moving and willing to break away from fixed ideas about
oneself and others, breaking away from lifestyles that do not respect the earth
as a community for all living creatures.
The pilgrim realizes that there is a change to undergo, and afterwards
to return home with extended faith – an understanding life and a willingness to
change.
Arne
Bakken, Pilgrimage Pastor Trondheim,
Norway
All should strive to learn before they die what they are
running from, and to, and why.
James
Thurber, Further Fables for Our Time
A pilgrimage
is a journey to search for a moral or spiritual significance. Typically it is a journey to a shrine of a
person’s beliefs and/or faith. The best
known pilgrimage is the Muslim trip to Mecca.
However, pilgrimage is not limited to the Muslim faith. Historically it is fundamental to the Jewish
to visit the Wailing Wall, the Catholics to the Vatican, or the Hindus to the
Ganges.
This trip,
for Barb, me and family, is far more personal.
It is a pilgrimage. It is not a
search for a religious shrine. It is a
journey to honor our familys’ roots. Our
faith, which originated in our familys’ beliefs, then teachings, handed down
through so many generations since the 1500’s, is rooted in the towns and farms
of Selbu and Bergen. As we traveled together each of those six days from Oslo
to Bergen to Trondheim then Selbu, I handed out one of the quotes listed above
to each person. I wanted to reinforce to
the youngers that this wasn’t just a trip to experience and celebrate. It was a trip to learn and discover something
very personal and dear. My goal was for
them to connect with the younger generation in Norway as well. They did.
I am not so sure the passages above set any tone or significance, but all
the youngers did appear to be respectful and honored to visit their Aune and
Thompson roots and to appreciate family industry (here I use the term industry
to mean a systematic labor for some intended purpose and to the creation of
something of value). We now have a
better understanding of the hardships and determination of our ancestors, their
hard work and sacrifice to succeed, and their faith that was/is the unpinning
of those efforts. Life, as it is now, will not always be. Life, as it once was, can be learned from. Life, in the future, must be approached with knowledge and understanding, best learned from experience. Life is a pilgrimage.
No comments:
Post a Comment