Thoughts on Pilgrimages

After reading all about Elias Chacour and his life experiences, I started thinking of the idea of pilgrimages. When hearing the word “pilgrimage,” one often does not think of one’s own journey. I know I never did. That is, until I had such big scares. The word “pilgrimage” to me brings up thoughts of Native Americans and Thanksgiving or various religious people on journeys to a place of some spiritual significance. But it is something much different, much simpler than that.

Upon reflecting this idea of a spiritual journey, I am certain those I have encountered were not ones I sought out, but instead were ones I stumbled upon. I have fast discovered that inner peace is uncovered better when you are not trying to find it, in my experience anyway.
In my life, I can recall at least three “pilgrimages” I have encountered and unfortunately, they have all seemed to occur in a dark time of my life. This leads me to believe that you cannot have a proper journey unless some suffering has occurred, as is true in Elias Chacour’s case as well.

I so clearly remember experiencing yet again this overwhelming sense of peace when I woke up in the recovery room after having my surgery. I know I was completely knocked out during the whole procedure and yes, I was under the influence of some pretty hardcore [prescription] drugs, but I am absolutely certain I knew everything was fine. Before going in I had no idea if I would be able to keep my uterus and/or both ovaries, whether or not the mass was cancerous, whether or not I could have cancer anywhere else, etc. but I have never in my life been so clear in my mind thinking I was okay as I was laying there in that hospital bed. I did not even need them to tell me they were 99% positive it was benign and that I would still be able to have kids, because I knew and I felt more content then I have in my entire life. Even though I did have this overwhelming feeling and I know things turned out the best they possibly could, it was and IS still a hard road. And although I am still traveling, I have come so far and it truly has been a journey.

Now I know this instance wouldn’t really be defined as “pilgrimage” in the traditional sense, but despite the lack of going on a quest for this inner peace, I found it. I do not necessarily feel like traveling from one location to another is the only way to experience an inner journey (obviously) but it is more of a travel from a part of oneself to a whole new aspect of oneself, sort of like a complete inner transformation.

I want my students to be able to experience these kinds of transformations, and hopefully via writing. To me, writing is therapy and it helps put together a scrambled group of thoughts in your brain into one cohesive collection of ideas that begin to make more sense. Then you have these pieces of writing as a representation of how you are growing, healing, etc. Of course, I certainly don't want my students to have to go through awful experiences but, honestly, the fact of the matter is that they will, so I want to be able to help them turn their experiences into something good, to grow and learn from it.