According to Tony Jones, medieval pilgrims generally spent anywhere from six months to three years on the road walking (154). They did this without any stereo, iPod, portable DvD player, or radio. Their only options on the journey were either to talk to their fellow co-pilgrims, to think or to pray. Even though they were moving, they were drawn into a state of quiet and solitude. The journey gave them both the time and the space to explore their inner self and see how it connected to God. With so much time to listen to the soul, it is no wonder that many pilgrims often ended up completely transformed by the journey.
Pilgrimage is so difficult in today's society because speed is considered an asset. We have so much technology that exists to cut down the time spent on the journey: airplanes, trains, and cars to name a few. Also, we are taught that a trip's value is determined by how many landmarks we see. We feel the need to "get something" from our trip, and so we rush from destination to destination without actually taking the time to savour the journey. Michael Yaconelli talks about the damaging affects of speed in our life:
"What keeps many of us from growing is not sin but speed... Speed damages our souls because living fast consumes every ounce of our energy. Speed has a deafening roar that drowns out the whispering voices of our souls and leaves Jesus as a diminishing speck in the rearview mirror." (Yaconelli, 124-125)Often when we travel we are tempted to do it at the same pace that we live the rest of our lives. We think we need to rush the journey because we have to make it to our destination before the vacation time runs out. By focusing on the destination, however, we miss the point of the journey. We think that the moment of achievement happens when we reach our goal, without realizing that it is the time spent on the road that gives value to the pilgrimage. By not allowing ourselves to slow down, we miss the opportunities that the journey provides for inward transformation.
A pilgrimage, then, cannot be a hurried process. There must be time throughout each stage of the journey to savour the sensation of unhurried slowness. Yaconelli writes that "If we want to meet Jesus, we can't do it on the run. If we want to stay on the road of faith, we have to hit the brakes, pull over to a rest area and stop" (125). If we want to actually to have an experience with God on the pilgrimage journey, then at some point we have to be willing to slow down to a walking pace.
Walking is a very important part of any pilgrimage. Even all of our technology today cannot replace the value of "one of... life's most ordinary, least expensive and deeply rewarding pleasures" (Forest, 9). Daniel Taylor writes that "Walking is the maximum desirable speed for seeing things fully enough to name them. And when we name things then we begin to value them. No wonder that we all want to be named and known" (37). If we move faster than a walking pace then we miss the opportunity to find value in the journey. If we are always focused on speed, then we will never be observe our own natural value within this beautiful world where God created us.
The body was created to move, despite the sedentary lifestyle that so many of us now lead. Believe or not, walking is an act that actually has the possibility of drawing us toward the sacred. Jim Forest writes that "Nothing we do is meant to be 'merely' physical or 'merely' spiritual. Every act has the potential of uniting the physical and the spiritual" (7). There is a connection between our body and our spirits that is often ignored by today's intellectually compartmentalized society. It often doesn't cross our minds that movement is good not only for the body, but for our souls as well. Walking "is a physical activity that is meant to have spiritual significance" (Forest, 7). It has the potential to draw us into a state of quiet where we can finally hear the the voice of God.
I considered carefully the value of walking when planning my own pilgrimage for this May. Even though I am driving for a good portion of the journey, I have determined not to spend more than 4-5 hours on the road within a single day. Also, when I get to my "rest stops" along the way, I am going to take the time in each location to just simply walk around, not with an agenda, but so that I can savour and value the place that I am in. As I take this time to slow down, I think that I will realize just how close God is to me even in the most mundane locations. I will rediscover the regenerative power of quiet through the pace of my own walking step. I will be able to reconnect my body to my soul, as I unite them together in a sacred physical action.
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