Pilgrim Intention in a Modern World: Sarah Gingerich

    In our class on November 3, Christianna Soumakis called in to talk about her experience walking and shared a bit about her life story. I really loved what she had to say, and also used a lot of what she had to say in my final paper. Her reflections on walking the Camino de Santiago highlight how pilgrimage can open a spiritual space beyond institutional boundaries. She argued that modern industrial life creates environments that dull the senses and disconnect people from others and even themselves. However, walking the Camino and other trails offered a chance to exercise what she described as “pilgrim intention”. She would take note of things on her walk, such as weeds, purple plants, or a glimmer in the asphalt, to increase awareness and presence. By doing this, she described the experience as calling the world around her into a “pilgrim plane”, which I thought was a really cool way to describe it! Her awareness transformed the trail into a place of active spiritual perception for her, and in this way, she fought the temptation to experience the trail passively. 

    I think this is something that I could be better about; I would love to take more time to notice the small things around me. I get to live on such a beautiful campus surrounded by friends and professors who have made a huge impact on my college experience, and sometimes I don’t take the time to recognize the small things about this campus or the people that I love. I really loved this perspective Christianna expressed to us and hope to enact this more in my everyday journey.

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