Shannon Rose: Images 2

12/5/2013

What qualifies a pilgrimage anyway? We discussed some of the characteristics in class and here is what I picked up. The Christian embarking on the pilgrimage experiences no rise in status; the journey is simply a jump out of reality for a brief period of time, only to jump back into the same place that they left before the trip. The conditions of the heart determine the experience that the Christian endures throughout the journey. The pilgrim makes a conscious choice when and how to engage in the spiritual journey. A pilgrimage is taken on as an opportunity to experience an escape from the daily grind by means of askeisis. Finally, the last qualification that we discussed was that the Christian would experience a sense of special access to God.

I am full aware of the fact that I have never been on a pilgrimage, per se. However, if there was a shorter version, less in depth and possibly slightly less impactful, I believe that I have taken a short journey that may have met some of the qualifications. My family took a day trip to a lake beach in Maryland. It was probably the lamest beach that I had ever been to in my life. Not only was the sand imported from somewhere and obviously unnatural, but the entire area was fenced off by a moldy rope that limited beach-goers to about a 40 ft x 70 ft section of beach AND water. I wanted out as soon as I laid my eyes on it. There just so happened to be a few hiking trails nearby, so I decided to embark on a short journey on one of the mid-level loops. At the time, spiritually, I was doing a lot of introspection and contemplation, so I thought this could be a good opportunity to clear my head of myself. As I continued on the trail, the concerns of relationships and family struggles melted away and I simply was. It was the first time that I had simply existed with no pressing thoughts pounding at the back of my head. I basked in the nothingness for the remainder of the hike. I felt like a light hippie on the way back down the road to the beach; if someone asked me to speak, my words would have certainly been a slur. I returned to the dreary synthetic beach and it was the exact same as when I left it.

Askeisis-