ABOUT CITY PILGRIM

When people think of the word 'pilgrim', they often think of someone travelling on a journey. I think of someone walking from one place to another. I think of someone who has time. I think of someone who is looking for some sort of spiritual meaning or a sense of connection. 

When I read the words of pilgrims, I am often left with a questions like; 'yeah, but what does that mean for me? What Does it mean for someone who lives in a city. What does it mean for someone who cannot take a year off - because I have bills, kids, a job? I can't wander off and leave all of my responsibilities". 

When I read the words of Satish Kumar, he asks me to be a 'pilgrim' in this life rather than a 'tourist'. That really resonates with me on a deep and spiritual level.

A tourist visits. They go to see something, they take a photo, they get what they want from it and they leave. A pilgrim makes connections. A pilgrim makes connections with the journey, with the earth, with the culture, with the people and with the 'soul' of the place. 
A pilgrim finds meaning. 

A pilgrim is not a religious term really. This is not a blog about trying to find one particular deity or another.

I am going to post a minimum of one blog entry per week for one year. The aim is personal. I aim to be a 'pilgrim' in my ordinary life, in a family, in a home, in a job and in a city. 

I want to feel more connected in a society that I feel is becoming more and more individualistic and disconnected. I want a deeper sense of connection. With people, with life and with the earth. 

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I know this will be a challenge. 

I feel that I could be a pilgrim if I walked across Dartmoor. I could sense the earth and the greatness of all things in that silence and nature. 

But can I be a pilgrim when I walk through a concrete underpass? Can I be a pilgrim when the shopping trolley that has been thrown into the river really annoys me? 

Can I be a pilgrim when surrounded by graffiti (something which really annoys me!) on my walk home? Can I be a pilgrim when I meet people who piss me off? 

That is that this blog is about. Finding a sense of pilgrimage and connection in the every day monotony and irritations of every day life. 

I was a church minister. I am not any longer. I am a human being, a husband, a father, a songwriter, a musician. I hope that I am kind - at least some of the time. 

Oh. 
I swear quite a lot too.