The Inner Pilgrimage
Nowadays
many of us are used to long-distance travel. It is a part of modern
culture that we take for granted, walking out the door, suitcases in hand,
heading off for an extended period of work, relaxation, education or recreation.
Travel is also part of the modern spiritual life. In the religious world
pilgrimages to sacred sites continue, especially in the eastern religions of
Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam. In a secular sense people are giving a moral
significance to their travel - perhaps selecting a location because it provides
the peace and quiet necessary to attend to the quest for meaning, or because it
is seen to be spiritually rich. Increasing numbers of people are traveling
to attend retreats and workshops aimed at restoring connection with the soul.
At another level of meaning travel, and in particular pilgrimage, can be viewed as a metaphor for the spiritual life itself. Our journey from birth to death, in this life and in the next, is the ultimate journey through time and space. We become pilgrims to the extent that we experience ourselves as being on a journey towards the higher potential for this life. This is not some idle abstraction. To experience our life as an inner pilgrimage is to see the journey itself as well as the destination as being full of poetry, significance, and meaning. A daily review becomes an observation of the Way -- outer events seen in the light of the inner pilgrimage.
This view of ourselves as pilgrims helps us to see life and all events from the perspective of the soul. It's a way of fostering detachment. Understanding that the journey is long helps to soften extremes of devotion and intensity. It reminds us to keep an eye on the destination while also valuing each step of the path -- knowing that the goals is reaches step by step, and that the path passes through cycles and seasons.
Our personal journey is part of the wider journey of our species traveling towards a new-found experience of community, and learning to express a new sense of synthesis. That which is eternal in us, our soul or Angel, is on a great journey, traveling into the valleys of time and space to bring the radiance of light, love and purpose into the substance of the world. The Earth, itself, and all the lives in the kingdoms of nature, are journeying towards an alpha and omega moment. It has been thus since the beginning of time.
-Triangles Bulletin, June
2010
Lucis Trust Publishing
