Journeys, both physical and mental
Have you been on a Pilgrimage?
Welcome to Thursday as we count down the year together on our journey around the Sun!
I’ve been thinking about journeys recently, inspired by the Rick Steves’ quote we discussed yesterday: there are three ways to travel - as a tourist, a traveler, or a pilgrim.
A tourist visits the destination and crosses it off the list.
A traveler visits the destination and appreciates and understands its history, geography, and people.
A pilgrim visits the destination and comes away a different person, changed by the appreciation and knowledge gained, absorbing the new experiences into her soul, expanding her consciousness to include not just the people and place visited, but incorporating these new experiences within themselves and coming out a changed person.
To travel as a pilgrim is to experience change within ourselves.
Experiencing change within ourselves may come from reassessing old views. A new place from which to observe gives us a different perspective.
Isn’t reading like traveling?
We can read a book or an article in the same three ways. Some articles we may just read out of a sense of duty, as a tourist if you will. Skimming through the pages quickly, or scanning the article or email, at the end we check it off the list. Done. Read. Next.
The second way to read a book or article is to seek to understand it more deeply. We strive to “get” it. To understand its core meaning, and perhaps, even more deeply, to grasp its structure and art, to delve into the motivations of the artist/author.
What about reading as a pilgrimage? A reading trip that changes you as a person? Are there any books or articles that have changed you? If so such a reading adventure might be a type of pilgrimage.
It doesn’t have to be on a grand level. The changes may be big or small. Let’s try an experiment. I will show you a picture of a map. After looking at it, let’s see if it changes our perception of the United States of America.
Credit: BrilliantMaps
The above map reflects the results of a 2016 poll of people in countries around the world who were asked which country represented the greatest threat to world peace.
According to the poll, 24 percent of the surveyed countries ranked the United States as the greatest threat to world peace today, followed by Pakistan at 8 percent, China at 6 percent and four countries (Afghanistan, Iran, Israel and North Korea) tied at 5 percent.
“New Poll says these Nations are the top 4 threats to World Peace. Guess who’s number one?” TheWorld.org
Surprised? Here’s a much deeper Substack article that explains how the United States failed to prevent the war in Ukraine, more specifically, how we failed to handle the collapse of the Soviet Union, ignoring the lessons we should have learned from WWI and WWII. The Brilliant Son sent it to me some time ago but I’ve just had a chance to read it completely:
It’s a great read. Set aside the time for it if you can. It certainly moved my view of things. Bottom line: we failed to provide stability to the USSR, and then after its collapse, failed to help Russia. They asked for help and we turned them away.
Had we taken some simple steps to stabilize their currency and ease the transition to Capitalism from Communism, as we did with Poland, the world would be a much different place today. Instead we let the Neocons control things. Their goal was not a peaceful world, but US hegemony.
Hegemony is the political, economic, or military predominance or control of one state over others. Basically it's the power or control that one state holds over others, usually others in the same region. Bottom line: we sought dominance rather than coexistence. Now we (the people of the US and the World) have to pay the price, again!
Reading that article has caused me to shift my perspective. It’s not just that I understand and appreciate the issue now; rather it’s that I have changed after reading it. It’s that change in our attitude and perspective that we seek in travel. The change is in us, not in others. I think that’s what Uncle Rick was talking about.
Here’s an excellent Substack article on Piet Mondrian that dramatically illustrates his life journey from Impressionism to Abstraction:
You may be saying, I don’t like abstract art! I prefer the older paintings Mondrian did in the Impressionist style. That’s ok. The point is that his transition from impressionist to abstract artist was a journey that changed him. He saw things differently.
Above: Piet Mondrian. Public Domain.
Mondrian wasn’t focused on the effect his work had on others, but on the changes that he himself was experiencing and expressing. As George Bothamley states in his excellent article:
[Mondrian] came to believe that the beauty of nature could never really be captured in its truest form by just focusing on the surface level. Rather it was to be found only by diving deeper and deeper into the heart of each object.
Isn’t this the same search for truth that we undertake when we travel, or when we go for a walk and pick up feathers, trying to appreciate and understand what happened, and to whom?
Are there any travels you’ve made which, in retrospect, were pilgrimages?
How about books? Any books in particular that you can say changed you? Would you consider reading that book a pilgrimage? This could be an entire year’s blog, right? SO many books out there that would qualify for one person or another.
What about works of art? Or music that not only moves your soul but changes who you are? You can’t just listen to it once, or skim the art in a museum. It has to seep into your soul. For example the Bach Cello Preludes move me to a different place.
I want to keep my focus on the stuff that pushes me in a new direction, provides a different perspective, and helps me on my journey of exploration. It might be a feather or a painting, a book or a trip. The closer we look, the slower we walk, the more we see, and the more we can understand.
I guess it is a pilgrimage! We need to be open.
Some snow showers are moving through this morning as the ice reforms on the lakes and streams. Hope you’re staying warm wherever you are!
Thanks so much for traveling along~!
Opening Photo: “Broadway Boogie Woogie” by Piet Mondrian, Public Domain, Museum of Modern Art.
Whew! Such a rich essay today ... and so much to respond to. I will read the two essays posted within this article, but I have an idea or two about the Neocons and Russia.
Your remarks about helping them stabilize surprised me, but it would've been decent of us to do that. After all, we rebuilt Germany and Japan after WWII ended. Or did it end? Korea, Vietnam, and now Ukraine just keep the ball rolling. It's as bad as the Arab/Israeli situation. WWII never really ended. My theory about the Neocons is that most of them were of the age who fought in that war and were still buzzed on the wine of conquest. We were the only country that survived that war unscathed. Then again, we were late to enter and did so after a humiliating destruction of our naval fleet. And we boosted our egos by patting our enemies and even our allies on the head with building contracts and said, basically, 'don't worry. We'll take care of everybody because we're not the Big Mamoo in torn'. That hubris had hardly waned when Saddam Hussein raised himself up as the new bad guy. And, as in the movie High Noon, when the Sheriff (us) was faced with another war scenario, our allies dug in their heels. It took a lot of arse kissing to bringing them in. And Russia was supporting anyone we wanted to vanquish because they have been our enemy since before WWII. Stalin may have shaken some hands and signed some treaties, but they were out to become the new Sheriff. Who did we think we were?
In the 80s, we discovered our industrial complex was turning to rust. Instead of rebuilding our own manufacturing base, incorporating new technologies, we took our labor search to other countries. We plied China with new business ventures in an effort to win them away from Russia. Biggest mistake we ever made, but it was done by the children of the Great Generation. We wanted to keep the American Century going as long as possible. And now, when globalism is looking a bit tarnished and dysfunctional, at least in our favor, we're turning to a pair of business tycoons with isolationist ideals. It will be interesting to see what the new Reich will bring, but I predict the Constitution will be used to line trash cans, and we will never have to worry again about voting. We Boomers forgot the adage about learning history because we'll be doomed to repeat it. Heil comrade.
My first trip to Mexico was that kind of pilgrimage. I wasn't the same when I got back, and I knew I had to move to Mexico someday.