this is a bit scattered, bear with me
Eric Leed writes," For the ancients the journey had value in that it explained human fate and necessity, while the moderns extolled it as a manifestation of freedom and as an escape from necessity and purposiveness."
It's funny how we never want to be the tourist. When we visit new places we take the map out in dark places and when we catch ourselves looking around like we've never seen the eiffel tower before we quickly lower our eyes and roll them at the person with a point and shoot and high white socks.
People use to journey in search of answers to the human life, this is a pilgrimage. now we travel and vacate to escape our reality, for the most part. we arrive to a foreign land and want to know what that place can do for us. its selfish, and pretty American. and we sit on white beaches and drink Sangria and wish it was our reality.
one of the defining characteristics of our postmodern culture is the search for something authentic. something , exposed, something real. its as if we've looked at the history books and decided there was too much bullshit in the world.we wanted something different. you can see it in fashion (Madonna's lace get up) ,architiecture ( modern buildings leaving the exposed brick) , and our obsession with "reality" TV. it affects every area of our life. we want the behind the scenes version of everything. but i dont think this is just a postmodernist goal. i think this is a timeless effort. we're all searching for a truth of some sort.
William T. Cavanaugh said that a pilgrmage was a kenotic movement, a stripping away of the external sources of stability in one's life.
never thought of myself as a pilgrim, i like to wear jeans and dance but if that is what defines a pilgrimage, then thats sure as hell what this journey has been for me. im ok with that.
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