On the suggestion of a friend of mine (Hello V.M.!), I’m going to post a question, once a week, to this blog for people to discuss with me and with each other. For I am committed to the idea that our most significant philosophical ideas emerge from our conversations, dialogues, and relationships – when such dialogue is carried forth with good heart and enquiring mind.
For a first question, it befits the theme of The North West Passage to talk about something to do with travel and adventure. So let us speak of Pilgrimage, and of all things Pilgrimage can mean.
I am generally in favour of pilgrimage as a spiritual undertaking, and I think that the contemporary pagan movement may be much enriched if we encourage each other to visit a few “original” (you know what I mean) pagan sacred places at least once in our lives. It would probably be unhelpful, and perhaps also contrary to the individualistic character of much pagan discourse, to phrase the encouragement in the form of a law-like demand. It might be preferable to voice this encouragement in the form of a purpose-specific option: if you have a particular spiritual reason, such as a need for some kind of healing or empowerment or knowledge, or passage into a new stage of life, then you may be benefited by a pilgrimage to such-and-such a place.
About a dozen years ago, I argued that those who have committed themselves to a Druidic path should visit a Celtic holy place, at least once in their lives, and spend time there, to better understand the ideas and experiences that the path is supposed to embody. Some who read that argument inferred that I was claiming that those who have not visited a Celtic holy place cannot call themselves Druids. And thus they got rather cross. I think it’s safe to assume those critics didn’t understand the point I was trying to make.
Let us entertain the possibility that a culture of pilgrimage, with all that it can entail: a folklore and literature of traveler’s tales, the construction of shrines at pilgrimage destinations, etc., may well benefit pagan culture generally. Other religions have such ideas in their cultures. Everyone knows about the Hajj by now, but it is not the only sacred pilgrimage that people have done. For instance among Hindus there is great merit to be gained by one who visits four special temples in India at least once in their lives – I don’t recall which exactly, but that they are positioned in the four geographic quarters of the country.
I wonder what places do you, good readers of my blog, recommend for pilgrimage? Are some places to be sought out for particular purposes? Which matters most: the destination, or the work of getting there?
I was recently inspired by my re-discovery of “The Pilgrim”, an orchestral suite composed by Shawn Davies. Here’s the only sample I was able to find on YouTube: entitled “A Ghrian”, it is an old Scottish prayer in honour of the sun. I’m also inspired by Heather Dale’s The Road to Santiago – my copy of which seems to have gone missing.
New Heroism.
I’d like to draw attention to this post by erynn999 concerning an Aboriginal community which, due to a collapse in their fishery this year, has not enough money to buy heating oil. In the winter. In Alaska.
Some of the comments she read in response included statements that the people should just move, or they should get off welfare.
In response to such comments, Erynn wrote this post, which was angry — and I think righteously so.
Self-reliance may well be a heroic virtue — but poor bashing is not. Generosity and hospitality are the Celtic values that should be applicable here. Self reliance as a virtue has nothing to do with blaming the poor for their situation, nor with leaving them alone to die in the winter.
Self reliance cannot be practiced by those who lack the material means to do so, and certainly cannot be practiced by those who have had their livelihood taken away from them, whether by fate (the collapse of a fishery) or by colonial conquest (as in the case of almost all Aboriginal people on this continent).
But those who cannot be self-reliant for lack of the material means are not therefore un-virtuous, nor deserving of scorn. They are un-fortunate, in the sense of one whose fortune turned out for the worse: and they are deserving of our generosity. What miserly and cold hearted people would we be, if we withheld that generosity!
CRs, druids, and celts of this day and age need to find new ways to be heroic. Perhaps one way to do this would be to expand the cirlce of honour: where once the values of generosity and hospitality were intended for one’s family and tribe, and the occasional stranger who happens upon your door, now it should be extended to the whole of humanity. Might this be the new heroic?
Let not rich gifts or great treasures blind you to the poor in their suffering.
— The Testament of Morann.
Do not refuse to share your meat; do not have a niggard [greedy person] for a friend.
— Fionn MacCumhall.
It is riches you love,
Not men; as for us, when we lived,
It was men we loved.
— The Lament of the Old Woman of Baere.