A Very Personal Journey

What exactly do I mean when I talk about ‘pilgrimage’, the subject of this website? Dictionary definitions aside, a pilgrimage is a journey into the inner self enacted through an externalised journey in the outer world, one commonly outside of one’s usual cultural or geographical framework of reference; it is a journey into one’s own interior. Every stage of that journey, from the start to the end and key places and experiences along the way, serve to mark some point within the individual self, a kind of measuring device through which one can assess one’s self via personal experiences, feelings and reactions. Anything can assume the character of a pilgrimage if the external goal carries a sense of the sacred. Hence many modern pilgrimages are carried out by people wishing to connect with some person, event, or organisation that carries some special significance for them, be it a literary character, a celebrity, an historical event and so on.

Engagement with Truth

I have written of the ‘hall of mirrors’ nature of pilgrimage, be it the general journey of life, or a specific journey conforming more to the classic understanding of that word.  Whichever, there is one core feature that is at the heart of either: engagement with Truth. Every situation or experience, whether perceived as good, bad or indifferent has to be engaged with fully to extract from it all possible meanings and nuances. This might seem to many people excessive, obsessive even, yet it is only through this dynamic that real life progress and self insight will ever be gained. Hence there are no cherished illusions or comfort zones here, and it is why I emphasise that only you can do the work. This is fundamentally what one part of the whole practice Yoga is about.