Pilgrimage has been a lifelong contemplative metaphor that has fascinate me. One author spoke of pilgrimage negatively as a wandering and searching aimlessly for something undefined and unfocused. I however have experienced it as a refining focus throughout my life. I began with fascination with the Holy Bible and while still finding much to learn in my traditional religious quest, I have broadened my appreciation of wisdom from many other sources. The truth is actually filtered within me through a set of lenses placed by culture, family, intellectual pursuits, ritual and spiritual practices through the years. For me, pilgrimage refers to a lifelong process of deepening my understanding of self and soul, and my relationship to the transcendent realities in the midsts of which I live. When Jesus told his disciples “the kingdom of God is in the midst of you” I think this pilgrimage is that of which he spoke.

Too Many Rivers Ago, is a song written and produced by my friend and pastor, Douglas Bottorff of Unity Church, Grand Junction, Colorado. It captures the essence of the pilgrimage as I understand it.

Live your questions now, and perhaps even without knowing it, you will live along some distant day into your answers.

Rainer Maria Rilke