I recently spent a few days at Temenos retreat in McGregor. While there I meditated on my own quest for knowledge and enlightenment. It seems I have been seeking something all my life, and all that has been found is more questions, more goals to be attained. Then it occurred to me that being a seeker was not the only way to be on the road in a quest for truth – one could also be a pilgrim.
A pilgrim sets out for some destination – a shrine, a holy mountain – but that is just the excuse to be on the way. The pilgrim might reach his end goal, perhaps not, but the pilgrimage is fulfilled in each step. A seeker, on the other hand, stakes his life on achieving an outcome, whether it be a manifestation in the physical world or a state of spiritual accomplishment. A seeker will never be at rest, one thing will always lead to another, and nothing will ever be enough.
So if we are going to travel, let’s do so as pilgrims rather than as seekers, knowing this step now is all we have.
___
Visit Temenos ...
That’s an enormously helpful insight. It marks the difference between living at your edge and living from your centre. And besides, Pilgrim is a lovely word… Thanks!