16. Pilgrimage Rewards

16


Pilgrimage Rewards

I walk through the pretty village of Schlossberg.

There is a schloss (castle) here of course, which is quite commonplace in this part of the world since almost every village has its castle and its church, its social hierarchy and its history, and perhaps its bone-deep conservatism and its fear of the stranger—its complacent, satisfied status quo implied by each precise brick and mossy curbstone.

“If there must be change here,” the whole environment seems to say, “let each change be carefully weighed before being implemented.”

So--does my pilgrimage walk represent a challenge to the inhabitants of Schlossberg? Or a danger? Do they see even a little freedom as a dangerous thing?

I think not.

I believe the local folk approve of a foreigner’s sincere feet tracing out the old pilgrim’s paths, and I have never felt anything but welcome here. I respect and honor their old ways—I am here to learn what I can, or teach if I have anything worth teaching—and this is my situation wherever I am.

For this pilgrim, the irksome complexities of organized religion seem to be only trifling cerebral exercises when my body is in motion, I am repeating the pilgrim’s prayer and my heart is open.

Who knows what one believes anyway--when the very meanings of words and creeds are in constant flux—when one understands everything differently today than one did yesterday and when one is sure that as one lives, more will be revealed--and who knows, with all the translations, revisions and changes of the years, what the writers of the ancient creeds really meant?

For me today, this prayer and this walking are the only certainty.

The tradition of pilgrimage, as I have said, is accepted in this land as a spiritual resource and most of the country people do not doubt the value of pilgrimage-- though not all use it as a way.

But the exact rewards of pilgrimage (if any) must remain a mystery.

Tomasito, 2009


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