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Pause for Reflection at Montes de Oca
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We are all pilgrims.
Traditionally, a pilgrimage is an intentional journey to a destination considered sacred or significant in some way associated with a spiritual figure, an event or a practice. Many are the shrines, temples and sites worldwide to which pilgrims have travelled over the ages—many walking miles to such well known destinations as Mecca, Lourdes, Benares on the Ganges, the Wailing Wall, Deer Park, Jerusalem, Canterbury and Santiago de Compostela. Can the idea of pilgrimage also be symbolic of another kind of path we sometimes find ourselves on whose destination may be uncertain or unknown? Are pilgrims prepared and fit for the risks involved in stepping away from familiar landscapes—both inner and outer. All journeys offer opportunities to transform toward a heightened consciousness and greater self-knowledge, despite the risks.
Whether a physical journey to a destination, a path taken inwardly by intention, or one thrust upon us by chance, each journey requires risks, resolve, courage, stamina and self-reflection. Each pilgrim would have the expectation to complete the journey successfully with a sense of accomplishment. Each may be accompanied by variety of feelings: vulnerability, uncertainty, fear, hope, sorrow, joy and often an element of surprise at the unexpected encounters along “The Way.”
All great literature, or any story worth telling, involves the drama of a pilgrimage of sorts. Shakespeare’s King Lear unknowingly puts himself on unintentional pilgrimage when he seeks affirmation of love from his three daughters, and will divide his kingdom among them, based on the profuseness of their expressions of adoration. His youngest daughter, Cordelia refuses to honor Lear’s selfish and foolish demand and, therefore, is disinherited. His other daughters pass the test willingly with words crafted for self-gain. When they receive what they were promised, they exile him with nothing.
All is lost—position, power and wealth. Most devastating is the betrayal, as he is thrust into the hardships of the Wilderness. He endures the outer elements of a raging storm, and the inner ones of anguish, rage, despair, blindness and madness—all unavoidable, but a necessary experience to know truth, about himself and others.
The once-king does not know where he is or who he is, until Cordelia comes to his rescue. His inner landscape has been transformed, and he finds himself in the Promise Land of forgiveness, acceptance and unconditional love, what he had been seeking all along, but through his tragic flaw of the arrogance of ego, it could not be seen.
Ultimately, we all long for unconditional love and acceptance, and hope to find it here on earth, but, as “faithful” pilgrims, we must submit to life's challenges and demands, and enjoy the blessings right in front of us. For no one knows knows where our pilgrimage will take us, to the ends of the earth, or to the limits of our longing.
One thing is certain, we will not end up where we started. If we are fortunate, we, like King Lear, can emerge from Wilderness to Promise Land.
