looking at my nightstand?

"All of these roads to Rome are legitimate for different travelers, at different stages of life. But if we are at the crossroads, as the blues singers moan, longing for something else, niether diversion nor distraction, escape nor mere entertainment? What if we have finally wearied of the paladins of progress who promise worry-free travel, and long for a form of travel that responds to a genuine cri du coeur, a longing for a taste of mystery, a touch of the sacred.

"For mellennia, this cry in the heart for embarking upon a meaningful jouney has been answered by pilgrimage, a transformative journey to a sacred center. It calls for a journy to a holy site associated with gods, saints, or heros, or to a natural setting inbued with spiritual power, or to a revered temple to seek council. To people the world over, pilgrimage is a spiritual excercise, an act of devotion to find a source of healing, or even perform a penance. Always, it is a journey of risk and renewal. For a journey without challenge has no meaning; one without purpose has no soul.

"Pilgrimage is the kind of journeying that marks just this move from mindless to mindful, souless to soulful travel. The difference may be subtle or dramatic; by definition it is life-changing. It means being alert to the times when all that's needed is a trip to a remote place to simply lose yourself, and to the times what's needed is a journey to a sacred place, in all its glorious and fearsome masks, to find yourself."

[phil cousineau, the art of pilgrimage]

am i the (warm)pupilgrim?