Pilgrimage

On By Mick CanningIn pilgrimage, Religion, spirituality, travel, walking

We recently returned from a week in Cornwall, and where we stayed was close to the end of a pilgrim route, St Michael’s Way. This is a short twelve and a half mile walk from the North Cornish coast to St Michael’s Mount, in Mount’s Bay on the South coast. Although the route is such a short one – a day’s walk for most people – it still apparently qualifies for a pilgrim ‘stamp’ on the official pilgrim passport for the very much longer long-distance Camino pilgrimage, since in the Middle Ages many pilgrims walked this route to the Benedictine monastery on the island, then took a boat to France to continue on towards Santiago de Compostela.

I am interested in learning – as far as it is possible for the staunchly non-religious person to learn – what the religious get out of pilgrimages. In the past, they were generally viewed as a way of gaining merit, of putting a few points in the bank when it came to whether you were headed for heaven or hell in the afterlife. Frequently, they were also undertaken in the hope of cures from diseases; various remnants of saints such as bones or clothing were held to have miraculous properties, and the touch of these might cure whichever disease ailed you.

Personally, I view pilgrimage as a spiritual thing, rather than a religious one. Something that puts the pilgrim in touch with their ‘finer’ feelings – a way of understanding what is important in life; relationships, simplicity, art maybe, minimal possessions – we will all have a different interpretation of this. In the past I have considered attempting one of the Camino routes – through France and Northern Spain to Santiago de Compostela. These are long, serious, routes, hundreds of miles long. Had I done so, I would have walked these for pleasure, as well as a personal challenge, rather than as a pilgrimage. Now, though, I am curious to see how much of the ‘religious’ experience I might have.

Whether visiting a church or a standing stone, a ‘holy’ well or a Sufi shrine, all are invested with spirituality. All are invested with meaning to many people and although I know I will never be able to experience the feelings of, say, a Christian at a site they consider holy, I might experience something akin to it. I’m not suggesting I might feel awe at the shrine of a saint, more that I might get an impression of the feelings of the visitors who do. And because I cannot quite find the words to express what I might hope to find, I reckon that’s an indication it’s an experiment worth making.

41 thoughts on “Pilgrimage”

  2. I know of a friend who walked the Camino together with her sister, recently, as a personal fitness challenge. From all accounts, it was a gruelling walk. I think religious pilgrims are probably invested with an extra energy which helps them go the whole way of some really challenging pilgrimages. Thanks for a very interesting post. I’ve often wondered why pilgrims undertake such hardships and how do they benefit, spiritually and in living everyday life.

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    1. I don’t know whether they have extra energy, but it may be pure determination that gets them there. I also know someone who walked the Camino and they too found it very gruelling. I’ve walked long distances in the South of Spain, and certainly the heat saps your energy. I don’t think I’d be up to it now.

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  3. As you probably know my blog began as I walked the Pilgrims Way to Canterbury so for me it has a lot to answer for. As an atheist it was however a fine walk. The walk over to St Michael’s Mount is fun but the inflatable tractor on the way back is better.

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    1. I didn’t know – I only came across your blog comparatively recently. I probably wouldn’t do that walk, as I already know many parts of it. I might be tempted by the Winchester to Canterbury route, though.

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    1. Thanks, Sushi. It’s not even at the planning stage yet, just an idea I’d like to put into practice in the next year or two. Incidentally, I’d begun writing this post when we had our conversation a couple of days ago. Quite the coincidence.

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          1. Hmmm. Out of all my online friends (talking about those I haven’t met and are from other cultures), only you still connect with me… it could be a coincidence no doubt… but one that’s meant to trigger conversation about something that interests both of us at the same time in our respective journeys. Or maybe i take my role as a story writer way too seriously!! Hahahaha!!

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              1. I tend to look at life as a story right from the beginning till now… events happening one after the other…dilemmas, growth, support, resistance…then one fine day…poof. If it’s a story…then there’s a writer…and it’s written probably…the whole stuff… just a perspective 🙂

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                1. I don’t think a story needs a writer, just a reader. We can interpret any series of events as a story, just as selectively as a writer will. We can decide the beginning and the end and which events constitute the story. And, just like stories we actually write ourselves, the characters in the story will obstinately go their own ways!

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  5. Phil Cousineau wrote a wonderful book called The Art of Pilgrimage. Like you (and me), he doesn’t view pilgrimage as a religious endeavor, but a spiritual one. No matter where we may be going, he believes any trip can become a pilgrimage if the traveler is committed to paying attention, savoring, lingering, and finding something personally sacred along the way. It’s a wonderful book and has been my companion on some memorable travels.

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    1. I’ve never heard of that, Donna, but the sentiments echo my own exactly. And the onus is very much on the traveller paying attention, as you say. They should be actively seeking, not just wandering along waiting for something to drop into their lap.

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  6. I had to smile at your remark about being ‘staunchly non-religious.’ I could be tempted to view walking as your religion: a path to a different sort of salvation, perhaps, but a path nonetheless. I suppose in a way I view religion — etymologically a ‘binding together’ through traditions such as pilgrimage — as a way to a deeper spirituality. When religion’s viewed as a means to different ends, it can become totally disassociated from spirituality, to the detriment of both.

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    1. Thanks, Linda. I’m making a point of specifically separating spirituality from religion, regarding religion as traditionally being something that has a god and a specific rulebook, full of thou shalt / shalt not instructions.

      I guess the two words can be interchangeable, but I would be uncomfortable doing so.

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  8. I can relate to this post, Mick. I’m also staunchly non-religious, a trekker, and curious about the spiritual elements of pilgrimages and places that seem to collect spiritual energy. I know someone who is in her late eighties and is walking the Camino de Santiago right now. For her, it’s deeply religious and connects her viscerally to her faith. Fascinating really.

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  12. I love this line: “Something that puts the pilgrim in touch with their ‘finer’ feelings – a way of understanding what is important in life; relationships, simplicity, art maybe, minimal possessions.” As a non-religious person who ends up in all kinds of places of worship, it is rarely about the religion for me. Rather an opportunity to connect with something much much bigger, and at the same time the very basics of living. Thank you for writing this piece.

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