In his latest book Earth Pilgrim: Conversations with Satish Kumar, Satish explains that sacred Earth is a gracious host to all pilgrims – and asks if we are prepared to be gracious pilgrim guests, rather than mere tourists?
The interesting thing about this book is that it doesn’t have a beginning, middle and an end, like most books – but the conversations have a circular nature. Ideas and themes emerge, disappear and return. Through these conversations Satish present a pilgrim’s worldview of ethics, aesthetics,
spirituality, economics and politics.
The following is an excerpt from the first chapter:
What is the difference between ordinary everyday life, and being on a pilgrimage?
For me, there is no difference; life itself is a pilgrimage. To be a pilgrim is to be on the move, physically, mentally and metaphorically. Life is a pilgrimage because life is not static. Life has no ultimate objective. Life is to be lived in every moment. The meaning of life is in the living. As a pilgrim I discover the mystery, the magic, the meaning, the magnificence of life in every step I take, in every sound I hear, in every sight I see.
To be a pilgrim is to experience life as an endless and eternal process of being. Life is not a product, but an ever unfolding process. The moment I think of the word ‘pilgrim’ I imagine ‘movement’, ‘process’, ‘unfolding’, ‘flying’ and ‘flowing’. To be a pilgrim is just the opposite of being a tourist! As a pilgrim I care less for road-maps and more for the map of the mind. A tourist is travelling to arrive at a place, whereas a pilgrim finds fulfilment in the journey. A pilgrim embraces the unpredictable, the unplanned, the temporary, the ambiguous and the provisional. A pilgrim is an eternal guest.
Guests do not bind themselves to a place, however joyful, comfortable and nice that place may be. The nature of guests is to love and leave. As William Blake said,
He who binds himself a joy
Does the winged life destroy;
But he who kisses the joy as it flies
Lives in eternity’s sunrise.
By Satish Kumar
Visit Resurgence to read more about Satish Kumar and his works
Thank you, Satish Kumar. The William Blake quote at the end especially is quite beautiful.