3 pilgrim books from the Destinations travel show
The authors were the speakers at a talk on pilgrimage at the Stanford’s stand. In acknowledgement of their togetherness, I asked that all three should sign all three books.
- Guy Stagg, The Crossway
- Justin Butcher, Walking to Jerusalem
- Emma Slade, Set Free
Two journeys to Jerusalem with very different motivations. Guy walked alone, taking accommodation where he could find it, in a battle for mental health and a search for what religion means. Justin was the originator of a group pilgrimage sponsored by the human rights charity Amos Trust on the anniversary of the Balfour declaration “to change the record after a century of injustice.” A third story of a Jerusalem walk, by the Jesuit Gerard Hughes, falls between the two, combining a concern for peace with a personal exploration of spirituality – but I no longer have the book, having donated it to the Pilgrim Centre in Gothenburg.
Emma Slade tells not of a single walk, but of a life journey: how the aftermath of post-traumatic stress led her to abandon a career in high finance and travel the world in search of yoga teachers, and then via yoga to Buddhism, compassion, and fundraising for projects in Bhutan.
A Christmas present
- The Dalai Lama and Howard C Cutler, The Art of Happiness
This was the only book I received for Christmas, since I don’t do Christmas presents any more. After reading Emma Slade’s story, I felt ready to open it. Thank you, John and Sallie.
The format is psychiatrist Howard Cutler’s write-up of a series of interviews with the Dalai Lama, interspersed with some incidents from his own life. At times, the style seems a bit crass, rather like that best-seller Dale Carnegie’s How to win friends and influence people. I have difficulty with the basic premise that “each one of us aspires to happiness”. The Dalai Lama himself is impressive, willing to take the interviewer’s questions seriously and, after giving an answer rooted in Buddhism (perhaps in the striving for compassion about which Emma writes), to attempt to rework the insight for those of another faith or no faith.
Found on my Kindle
Tracy Saunders, Pilgrimage to Heresy
A realistic account of a woman’s walk to Santiago, interspersed with a novel one of her fellow-walkers is writing about Priscillian, a fourth century martyr accused of Manicheeism among other things, which in turn quotes from the gnostic gospels. I found the historic bits hard going, and have read enough accounts of pilgrimage not to need this one. I hope to be more selective for the rest of Lent.
emeritablog: life after work 