Understanding pilgrimage

Going on pilgrimage, i.e. undertaking a journey (or process) from A to B, is the sine qua non of survival. Getting from A, an initial (unstable) state, to B, a (stable) end state, is fundamentally involuntary, i.e. it’s survival need driven. A particular pilgrimage, i.e. getting from a particular A to a particular B can be voluntary.

For B read: home (relig.: sanctuary or sanctum). A pilgrim is someone not at B.

The reason for wanting to understand the principles of pilgrimage is no different from wanting to understand the principles of golf or poker, of cooking, gardening or driving your car, or making love. If you want to perform a particular function to perfection it helps if you understand clearly what it is you are trying to do. Clear understanding lets you avoid mishaps and anticipate and develop the required techniques (i.e. means-as-skills) and strategies for completing your personal application of that function perfectly (i.e. @ 100%, hence @1). Perfect accomplishment (read: perfection), irrespective of the content of that which is being accomplished, rewards with rapturous joy. Perfect accomplishment also gives whole (hence absolute) meaning to that function.

Basically, every function, since it creates a particular outcome, is a pilgrimage. And every sub-function is a sub-pilgrimage (ad infinitum).

The function of pilgrimage is either to upgrade or restore the pilgrim to full functionality (read: perfection). A religious pilgrimage is intended to upgrade or restore the pilgrim (to wit: the sinner, i.e. the imperfect, elsewhere called unrighteous) to full religious functionality (hence to perfection or righteousness). However, there is a bit of a snag, for:

“The right way is the un-trodden.

It becomes the wrong way

When you’ve stepped on it.”

Victor Langheld

Understanding pilgrimage

Going on pilgrimage, i.e. undertaking a journey (or process) from A to B, is basic to life. Getting from A, an initial (unstable) state, to B, an (stable) end state, is fundamentally involuntary. A particular pilgrimage, i.e. getting from a particular A to a particular B can be voluntary.

For B read: home (relig.: sanctuary). A pilgrim is someone not at B.

The reason for wanting to understand the principles of pilgrimage is no different from wanting to understand the principles of golf or poker, of cooking, gardening or driving your car, or making love. If you want to perform a particular function to perfection it helps if you understand clearly what it is you are trying to do. Clear understanding lets you avoid mishaps and anticipate and develop the required techniques (i.e. means-as-skills) and strategies for completing your personal application of that function perfectly (i.e. @ 100%, hence @1). Perfect accomplishment (read: perfection) rewards with rapturous joy. Perfect accomplishment also gives whole (hence absolute) meaning to that function.

Basically, every function, since it creates a particular outcome, is a pilgrimage. And every sub-function is a sub-pilgrimage (ad infinitum).

The function of pilgrimage is either to upgrade or restore the pilgrim to full functionality (read: perfection). A religious pilgrimage is intended to upgrade or restore the pilgrim (to wit: the sinner, i.e. the imperfect, elsewhere called unrighteous) to full religious functionality (hence to perfection or righteousness). However, there is a bit of a snag, for:

“The right way is the un-trodden.

It becomes the wrong way

When you’ve stepped on it.”

Victor Langheld