PILGRIMAGE IS NOT WHAT WE THINK IT IS

My wife and I recently returned from Pilgrimage. It was nice. Amazing sites, wonderful people, great stories were shared and I experienced moments of spiritual insights. What is a spiritual insight? I suppose I experience it as an awareness of a deeper truth within me that has nothing to do with the day to day mundane tasks of this physical world. Get it, an IN-sight! Clearer picture of my deeper self. 

Back to why Pilgrimage is not what we think it is! Many people from different religions spend a lot of time and energy and resources to travel to a "spiritual place" to get closer to God, fulfill an obligation or to become more "spiritual" - I guess that's cool and acceptable in the sight of God, but I think we've missed the greater point. There is a quote from a servant of mankind named Abdul Baha that I read waaaay before we set out on our pilgrimage - the quote reads "Of all pilgrimages the greatest is to relieve the sorrow-laden heart." - Think about that! The greatest of all pilgrimages is to remove sorrow from someone's heart! That's amazing to ponder further... 

What if all the money, time and energy we spent to travel to pilgrimage was instead spent on HUMAN BEINGS! On people! People other than ourselves and our own immediate family! Everyday people in our own neighborhoods, cities and communities. Yes I know some people do both, go on pilgrimage and also help others, so I guess I could stop the blog post right here... but that be no fun... so let's continue... I also know that some people go on pilgrimage and come right back to their same old daily routine (work, family, play) with no change in behavior and especially with no real shift in awareness! Like for example, no  new awareness, attention, energy or money spent on the local homeless guy that hangs out next to their office every single day. And it doesn't always have to be a homeless guy, there can be a lack of awareness around a family member, co-worker, or friend that is sad, depressed, ill or struggling.

Awareness, not in only being conscious of other people's struggles, but rather awareness to do something! Act. 

Ultimately, I realized that there are many people very close to me that have been living a life of pilgrimage even though they may or may not have visited a Holy Place like I did this past summer. There are a few people that come to mind... first is an uncle that comes to mind.... Let's give his story a name...

THE $700 PAIN IN THE MOUTH

My uncle while he was on vacation met a toothless man who had great pain in his mouth, so my uncle decided to give him $700+ to go get dental work done. Yep! $700 of vacation money to a complete stranger. I'm sure if that didn't relieve sorrow from the guy's life, it may have brought a little more hope and a little less mouth pain. This same uncle, invites people he barely knows, invites people that are complete strangers to his family, to his home to stay with him because they are new to this country and need guidance to get their life on track in this new land. Not just once, many a times. Many of the people he has helped have gone on to become very wealthy in their endeavors. Sorrow and fear of a new country permanently removed from their psyche.  Then there's the story of...

LOST IN AMERICA! NO MONEY! NO PASSPORTS! 

An aunt of mine that works at an airport, learned of a European family that had their luggage stolen with their travelers checks, cash, wallets and passports, ALL GONE, and with no where to go! She calls her husband to ask if she can bring them home. He says yes, (should note, it's the same uncle as above) and my aunt proceeds to let the family stay the night and then every single night after that for the entire 2 weeks the European family had planned to vacation in America. My aunt and her family drives the European family to the appropriate federal buildings to get new passports, takes them to Vegas and shows them around California as if he was a tour guide. Can you imagine the sorrow this family must have been feeling at the airport only to have it transmuted into joy. This is alchemy at it's finest! 

THE HOMELESS MAN AND SAD SERVER

Or a cousin that would literally seek out the local homeless man that would sit by Stater Bros and bring him clothes, food and other items he needed. This same cousin when thinking about grabbing dinner from the local Mexican restaurant, Alberto's,  on a number of occasions also thought to bring dinner for the same local homeless man. The cousin would make a plate of Thanksgiving Day dinner and go out and find the man. I don't know if sorrow was ever fully removed from that man's heart, but this cousin did expend a lot of energy, money and resources to find this man every time. Another cousin comes to mind that works at a restaurant. One day I was eating at the place he works, a co-worker of my cousin was my server. After I finish eating, my cousin comes up to me, sneakily, hands me a $20 bill and asks that I include it in my server's tip on top of whatever I was going to give him. I asked Why? My cousin responds "Just because I know he's having a really bad day, this will make him happier."

PRISON AND FREE RENT

Another person comes to mind that allowed a woman to stay in their rental house rent free for almost 2 years! The woman's husband was arrested in another state for bogus charges, the family didn't have the money to get him out, nor did the woman have savings or a job. This is perfect case where a business mind tells you to quickly evict someone, but a spiritual mind, a mind that is always on pilgrimage tells you there is greater good to be had by helping this family out. Federal Reserve Notes aka "Money" is nice, but I don't think Jesus or Krishna or Mohammed would have collected rent on that lady. A real estate CEO may think it's insanity, I know I did at the time, but now I see these acts as the true practice of the words spoken by Abdul Baha "Of all pilgrimages the greatest is to relieve the sorrow-laden heart." 

These mentions above, are a handful of personal stories that I know of, there are thousands upon thousands of stories similar to this that take place every day. Every day, self proclaimed "religious" people and self proclaimed "atheists" are relieving sorrow from the hearts of our fellow human beings. I want all these people to know how many times they've been on pilgrimage, they may have just not known it. 

This is what pilgrimage is all about, circumabulating our local communities to find hearts to brighten and cheer up! 

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If this blog upsets you, recognize that this blog is not "The Truth" - "The Truth" will never be found in a blog, it's all relative. Relative to your life experiences, books you've read, discussions you've had, questions you've pondered or not pondered, knowledge you have chosen to pursue or not to pursue. If this blog was enlightening, recognize that it wasn't the blog. It's you. I didn't share anything you already innately didn't know. IN-Light-enment happens from withIN. 

Practice religion in it's purest form, love and unify all people. Investigate the truth of all things for yourself, once you found it, practice truthfulness in all your actions. 

Namaste. God bless America and the rest of Mankind!