‘Be Safe and Well
Peace, Love, Courage’ – Egyptian blessing for those leaving on a pilgrimage.
Many spiritual
traditions throughout the world link meditation and
pilgrimage. For over a thousand years, Tibetan Buddhists have tried to make at
least one pilgrimage to the Johkang Temple in Lhasa, often on foot, in a
journey that can take many months.
There are Christian
pilgrimage paths throughout Europe, some of which, like the Camino de Santiago
in Spain have become more widely popular in recent years. And of course there
is the largest pilgrimage in the world, the annual Hajj, the pilgrimage to
Mecca that every Muslim strives to make.
Individuals also
make their own pilgrimages to places of personal significance to support their spiritual
and meditational practices.
The goal of
meditation and of pilgrimage is the same. As in deep meditation, the intention
to undertake a journey as a pilgrim can bring us to a state of transformation
in which the old self is stripped away and we can approach liberation through a
new sense of unity.
The Dalai Lama said that the purpose of a
pilgrimage is to engage in transformation; if we come home the same as we left,
it was not worth the time or money.
The most powerful
pilgrimage destinations combine unusual or beautiful natural features and the devotional
energy of people who have meditated or prayed in that place, often over
centuries. The journey itself can be an extended meditation and those that
involve walking the land with reverence bring the energy and patterns of love
back to the Earth.
For the last few
years, it’s been my practice to take an annual pilgrimage. These have been
journeys of the heart, to places such as Tibet, India, Orkney and Peru. This
year I went to Uluru, the heart of Australia.
In the ancient tradition of pilgrimage, the journey
of spiritually inspired travel is as important as the destination. They’ve all offered
me challenges, difficulties, insights and ‘opportunities for growth’.
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| The path to Uluru |
On my journey in September 2012, there were daily
challenges of camping in weather that varied from below freezing to +37
degrees, a blown tyre, damaged shock absorber as well as coming across a
serious road accident that closed the highway for hours.
All these things led us to our first glimpse of Uluru, which the explorer Ernest Giles, the first European to see it, called ‘ancient and sublime’.
It is a place of mystery, story and ceremony for the traditional custodians, the Yankuntjatjara and Pitjantjatjara people, known collectively as Anangu – simply ‘people’.
‘The Rock’, a massive sandstone inselberg, is believed to extend
six kilometers into the earth, surrounded by low sandhills covered in spinifex
and mulga, is a breathtaking presence that draws you close and invites
meditation. No matter whether you are walking under it’s huge curves and
channels or gazing from a distance, its energy demands your attention and
contemplation.
The pilgrimage is a metaphor for life and when we hold the
attitude of a pilgrim, we learn that the way we approach the challenges and
joys of the journey tells us a great deal about the way we live our lives.
Uluru invites every Australian to come to the harsh desert
centre and experience living in this country in a different way.
