Reading David Whyte is always demanding and rewarding. This British native, who now lives in the US, delves into life, thinks about it, and then offers insights that amaze me. I first heard about Whyte from a friend. And then I read his book, Consolations. It is the kind of book that you do in small bits. The book focuses on a number of common words. He will spend three or four pages unpacking a word that I never realized had so many facets.
One such word that I have been pondering lately is the word, pilgrim. I know what a pilgrim is. While it is not always a term describing spiritual people, that is how I associate it for the most part. If you are a Christian pilgrim, it is not unusual to dream of a trip to the “Holy Land,” as it is often called. People want to go where Jesus lived and taught. They want to go to Jerusalem and see the garden scene. They want to visit churches where Jesus spent time. I have seen most of these. They were fine, but I am not sure physical places do too much for me.
I was fascinated, however, with what Whyte does with the word, pilgrim. Let me share a few lines and unpack them in the way they spoke to me. Whyte opens that little chapter with these words. “Pilgrim is a word that accurately describes the average human being; someone on their way somewhere else, but someone never quite knowing whether the destination or the path stands first in importance.” (165) I like the fact that Whyte makes pilgrims out of me and you. Most of us are average human beings. I see this as a compliment.
According to Whyte, we are pilgrims on the way somewhere else. That is true for me. Even for those of us who are satisfied with life are, nevertheless, on our way somewhere else. As we age, this might be the trip we are on---even though we don’t plan to move, get another job or any other major change. That is why the image of pilgrimage is such a good one for life.
An illusion of our lives is stability. I say that recognizing that, generally speaking, people would probably call me fairly stable. I have basically only lived in two houses all the years since I finished school. I stay in jobs for a long time. I am not restless to go somewhere else or get another job---or even quit my current job and retire! But I am under no illusion. I am not stable. I look in the mirror and can’t find that younger version of myself that I still think I am. I still see myself as the guy who runs marathons, and honestly, I have not run a block for a few years now. I am a walker.
The other thing that Whyte says that intrigues me is his declaration that we are not sure whether it is the destination or the path than is more important. Is life about the end or is it really the process that matters most? On different days I answer this differently. No doubt, it is both---both are important. Maybe I answer this better if we look a bit further into what Whyte offers.
He tells us, “The defining experience at the diamond-hard center of reality is eternal movement as beautiful and fearful invitation…” (166) This is a powerful sentence. We have myriad experiences, but I like how he isolates the “defining” experience. This is the one who makes us who we are. Oddly, the defining experience is eternal movement. As I ponder this, I realize Whyte is describing the nature of reality is change. Even reality is not stable, if by stable, we mean unchanging. Whyte says that life is dynamic. I love this idea. If life is movement, then we need to be ready to go.
This is where Whyte says we are always given invitation. We are invited into the process. Whyte prepares us for the next step. He thinks, “The courageous life is the life that is equal to this unceasing tidal and seasonal becoming…”(166) Whyte is repeating himself in the sense that he says our lives are always becoming. We may be heading to some destination, but in the meantime, all we know is becoming---coming to be who we are. For me this is where God is to be found.
We find God in the process. And I can even hazard the guess that God is the process. As odd as this may sound, imagine that “we live and move and having our being” in God, as the New Testament would have it. (Acts 17:28) To affirm this not to say that I am God. Anyone who knows me would know I am not divine. But I do like to think that I exist in God---as we all do. But we are always in the process of coming to know more and more what that means to be in God. And if God is movement, no wonder we are always on the way.
One final thought from Whyte I like. He says, “we are alone in the journey and we are just about to meet the people we have known for years…We want to belong as we travel…” (167) I do feel alone on my journey. However, I love the idea I am about to me some I have known for years. What does this mean? I think it means the ones I will meet I may not literally know. But if they are fellow pilgrims on the spiritual way, then it will seem as if we have always known each other. They will feel the same way about me.
Whyte is absolutely right. We do want to belong on the way. That is why community is so important for our pilgrimage---our life as journey.
Those of us who have read theology or, perhaps, those who are people of faith and are old enough might well recognize this title as a reminder of the late Jewish philosopher and theologian, Martin Buber. I remember reading Buber’s book, I and Thou , when I was in college in the 1960s. It was already a famous book by then. I am not sure I fully understood it, but that would not be the last time I read it. It has been a while since I looked at the book. Buber came up in a conversation with a friend who asked if I had seen the recent article by David Brooks? I had not seen it, but when I was told about it, I knew I would quickly locate and read that piece. I very much like what Brooks decides to write about and what he contributes to societal conversation. I wish more people read him and took him seriously. Brooks’ article focused on the 2016 contentious election. He provocatively suggests, “Read Buber, Not the Polls!” I think Brooks puts
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