Play, Pilgrimage, Pleasure, and Meaning - Carter Jobe

 In reading The Connection between Liminal Places and Hospitality in Manifesting Pilgrim Values from Dr. Redick, certain themes stuck out to me, such as the overarching theme of the interplay between Play and Pilgrimage. 

The relationship between these two ideas centers around the idea of liminality, the space between. Both remove us from our daily lives, with the intent to achieve something and navigate challenges along the way. They are gateways to create meaning in our lives through boht pleasure and the spiritual growth we reap.

Dr. Redick includes a quote regarding children playing in which scholar Paul Shepard states, “an alternative to everyday utilitarian activities. To ‘go out to play’ is to go out of the banal envelope of the daily rountine of the adults, to leave the system of profane rules” (1967, p. 197). 

In both forms of experience, the pilgrim or player is removed from the situation at hand, and instead focused on an outside means of building meaning. A notable thing that I think draws them together is pleasure. To engage in both play and pilgrimage creates an enjoyable method to access meaning. It distracts from the stress of modern society, and reminds the pleasure-seeker of how infinite the world and our psyche truly is. 

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