Walk on the Wild Side: Esalen 2009

Walk on the Wild Side on the Big House Beach

"The sun shines not on us but in us. The rivers flow not past, but through us, thrilling, tingling, vibrating every fiber and cell of the substance of our bodies, making them glide and sing."
~John Muir

My first words go out to Michael and his family wishing them peace. My next words go out to Stacy for how wonderfully she showed up for all of us. My heartfelt gratitude goes out to all of our group for being here.

Even after all these years I continue to be amazed how simply spending time on the path together in wilderness can create connection and depth with one another.

For more photos of our group: Walk on the Wild Side
You can view them individually or as a slide show.

"Every body needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where Nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul."
~John Muir

Wildly,
Steven

Wild Mind, Zen Mind at Tassajara May 2009

Wind Caves

For more photo of our group: Wild Mind, Zen Mind

Spectacular wildflowers and the awe in the amazing ability of nature to regenerate after fire... I have never seen such a display of wildflowers around Tassajara as this year in both quantity and diversity.

It was a joy to share this with others as we walked along the paths, sat in meditation, and let our curiosity wonder in discussions at meals, on the trail, and in the Kaisando. Gratitude to all of you for so generously participating in our time together.

"The secret of Soto Zen is just two words: not always so."
Shunryu Suzuki-roshi

Wildly,
Steven

P.S. Those of you that are interested in the online Meditation House (which is part of iThou.org) can visit by clicking here: iThou.org. You can sign in by typing "here" and check-out the meditation timer, candle site, meditation instructions, and more all in the right hand sidebar.

Big Sur Wilderness Experience: Springtime 2009

Tip toe through the lupines...

High in the mountains of Big Sur

Here is a link photos of our hikes: BSWE Photos
Here is a link photos of our hikes as a slideshow: BSWE Slideshow

"There are two ways to live your life.
One is though nothing is a miracle.
The other is as though everything is a miracle.

The most beautiful and most profound emotion
we can experience is the sensation of the mystical.
It is the sower of all true science.
In this emotion you dwell in wonder
and stand rapt in awe."
-Albert Einstein

Thank you all for your "Showing Up... and choosing to be present."

Steven

Workshop Schedule for 2009

Big Sur

I finally have all the date for 2009. This is one of the most exciting schedules I've had. Hopefully you can join me for a worshop this year.

• April 12-17, 2009: Big Sur Wilderness Experience: Springtime at Esalen Institute with Steven Harper and Michael Newman

• May 2, 2009: The Art of Pilgrimage: Walking the Wild Path at Green Gulch Zen Center with Steven Harper and Meg Levie

• May 7-10, 2009: Zen Mind, Wild Mind at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center with Steven Harper and Leslie James or Kokyo Henkel

• May 24-29, 2009: Walk on the Wild Side: Hiking the Big Sur Country at Esalen Institute with Steven Harper and Michael Newman

• June 19-21, 2009: Fathers and Sons: Celebrating Father’s Day in the Tradition of the Old Ways at Esalen Institute with Steven Harper, Kenneth Harper, Kai Harper, and Kes Harper

• June 21-26, 2009: Mountains and Waves: Wilderness and Continuum at Esalen Institute with Steven Harper and Susan Harper

• July 5-10, 2009: Nature and Contemplation at Esalen Institute with Steven Harper and Brother David Steindl-Rast

• August 7-9, 2009: Sitting with Fire: Walking with Change at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center with Steven Harper and Myogen Steve Stücky

• August 16-21, 2009: Big Sur Wilderness Experience at Esalen Institute with Steven Harper and Michael Newman

• September 2-6, 2009: Art of Pilgrimage at Hollyhock at Cortes Island, British Columbia, Canada with Steven Harper

• September 19, 2009: The Art of Pilgrimage: Walking the Wild Path at Green Gulch Zen Center with Steven Harper and Meg Levie

• October 4-9, 2009: Belonging to the Earth: Finding Our Place in Nature at Esalen Institute with Steven Harper and Michael Newman

• October 23-25, 2009: The Way of Nature at Esalen Institute with Steven Harper

For more details visit: Steven Harper

Gratefully,
Steven

The Mountains are Calling

Yosemite Valley at Sunset Feb. 19th, 2009

" The mountains are calling, and I must go."

~ John Muir

This winter has been a busy one. So many different things calling to be done— to be attended to. I was so completely caught up in my list of things to do, that I was to the point where I was considering canceling our annual trip up to Yosemite during the school break. I had every reason not to go... then these words slipped into a crack of my reasoning.

"The mountains are calling and I must go," I could hear Muir whisper inside. Even though it was a shorter trip than previous years, I fell in love with Yosemite once again. I fell in love with the deep beauty of the wild and let the worries of the world go for a couple of days.

I return with sore muscles, full of good fun with my family, and a re-alignment of what is truly important in my life.

May beauty touch us all,
Steven

P.S. After this post I posted a video to youtube that includes part of this trip: Ski Yosemite 09

Four Winds Council

Four Winds Council at Esalen: January 2009

The Four Winds Council is cooperative association of four retreat centers located in or near the Ventana Wilderness and the Los Padres Forest in Monterey County, California. Members includes New Camaldoli Catholic Hermitage, Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, the Native American Esselen tribe's "Window to the West", and Esalen Institute. The council is formed to develop cooperative initiatives among the four centers and to promote a deeper understanding and respect for the paths of personal and social transformation that each center represents.

After years of individually developing and maintaining working relationships with Tassajara, the Hermitage, and Little Bear/Fred Nason Sr., I decided to convene a meeting of representatives of each centers to see what if anything we wanted to be or do together. I facilitated the first meeting and recorded on flip charts the work, discussion, and brainstorming. In spring of 1993 we unofficially named and previously unnamed peak, “Four Winds Peak”. We offered a workshop at Esalen in 1994 that I convened and acted as facilitator for the program. We met four times a year at each place. I reduced my involvement sometime in 1995 or 96 although I have continued a relationship with each of the places. The Council has continued to meet over the years.

This January I was invited to attend a meeting at Esalen. How exciting it was for me to see many old and new friends from Tassajara, the Esselen Tribe, the Hermitage, and Esalen all in one place. It makes me happy to see the "tradition" continue.

Gratefully,
Steven

Workshops in the Wilds of Big Sur

I have been learning to use iMovie and Youtube. Here is a compilation/montage of images from many of the workshops I have led over the last year or two.

Wishing you a Happy Solstice!

Solstice Celebration

Also, Find out more here: iThou Solstice Celebration

Wishing you a soulful solstice,
Steven

Big Sur Weather: Winter of 2008 & 2009

Big Sur River Mouth

For those of you that have a connection to Big Sur and want to follow this winter's progress this could be of interest?

Here is a link to a webcam set up in the back of Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park (up river from the ball diamond and down stream from the Gorge where there was a bridge). Of course at night you can't see anything, but during rainstorms in daylight you might catch some interesting stuff. Once you are on this page scroll down to the the webcam picture: Big Sur River Web Cam

For the current weather in Big Sur here is my favorite link: Big Sur Weather: 7-day forecast

For Nepenthe's webcam that looks south down the coast towards Esalen: Nepenthe Web Cam

With both of the webcams you might need to occasionally hit the refresh button on your browser to get the udated image.

Here in Big Sur we are hoping for light rains in well timed intervals... we will see.

Esalen Office Goes Wild

I try to take the Esalen office for a hike each year. We went to Big Creek Reserve a few days ago and were blessed with a clear sunny day in one of the few places that did not burn in the fires. It was a smaller group than normal because half of the office was sick with a cold. This is for the office crew and all they do day in and day out.

Gratefully,
Steven

For more photos of the hike click here: Esalen Office Goes Wild

Conscious Embodiment and the Path of Nature

For additional photos of our workshop click here: Conscious Embodiment

What a personal delight to work once again with Wendy Palmer. For many years Wendy and I taught workshops together. The unique blend of her work that is deeply inspired by Aikido and the experience of wild nature as teacher come together as a profound combination.

Thanks to all of you that so fully showed up for the weekend... next time we will have to make it a weeklong program.

Two claps, One bow,
Steven

Nature and Contemplation: September 2008

For more photos of our group click here: Nature and Contemplation
(Thanks to Ken for sending photos... I will post more photos soon)

Con • temp(l) • atio(n)

"It is not happiness that makes us grateful, it is gratefulness that makes us happy."

Brother David Steidl-Rast

From swimming in the creek to talks about the native peoples before us, from celebrating birthdays to to visiting the recently burned areas, from the fog to the hot sun we had a diverse and rich contemplative time balanced between being and doing. We did pay attention... "What else should we have done."

I was touched to see so many familiar faces and meet so many new. Thanks to all of you and I look forward to seeing you all again,
Steven

The Art of Pilgrimage: Green Gulch 2008

For more photos of the group click here: Art of Pilgrimage

Here's a version of the Zen story from the "Book of Serenity" that Meg told the group:
Zen Teacher Earth Treasury asked the monk Dharma Eye as he was leaving the monastery, "Where are you going?"
Dharma Eye said, "I'm going on pilgrimage."
Earth Treasury asked, "What is the purpose of pilgrimage?"
Dharma Eye said, "I don't know."
Earth Treasury said, "Not knowing is most intimate."
Dharma Eye was greatly awakened at these words.

At the beginning of our retreat I gave a short talk about what pilgrimage has been and is for many cultures and religions. I was asked by the group to share in written word some of what I spoke about on Saturday morning. The following is loosely drawn from my notes.

I have a long standing fascinated by practices and rituals that occur in many cultures. When practices occur across culture boundaries they perhaps speak to the larger human condition and are greater than the culture itself. It is interesting to me that most wisdom traditions have some form(s) of pilgrimage.

As a general statement, we contemporary westerners living in the United States don’t have a great deal of pilgrimages that emphasize our relationship to our spiritual journey. This opens the question of how we might create and participate in the practice of pilgrimage in a manner that is both skillful and has meaning. Most forms of pilgrimage that I have studied share these characteristics and outcomes:

• A physical journey through time and space
• Leaving home (leaving what is known)
• Simple lifestyle during pilgrimage: e.g. simple clothes are worn that do not reflect status, simple diet, etc.
• Special rituals and/or prayers that marks significant milestones along the journey
• Circumambulation: moving around a sacred temple, object, mountain, and the like
• Pilgrims return with objects (water, statues, talismans) and/or special knowledge from a sacred site
• Pilgrims return with something for the community, family, as well as self
• Emphasize the journey itself as much as or equal to the goal
• Emphasize the merging of inner and outer (e.g. climbing the Mt Fuji inside as I am climbing the physical Mt. Fuji)
• Encourage a relationship to and deep knowing of a geographical place
• Timed with the seasons, sun and moon cycles, or some other natural rhythm

Usually pilgrimage is never just one of these things, but a constellation of many things and experiences woven together to create the pilgrimage. With this background knowledge it is now important that we drop our ideas about what pilgrimage is or might be as we step on the path of pilgrimage. In each step we have the opportunity to discover what pilgrimage is.

With heartfelt gratitude for our shared time on the path,
Steven

P.S. Here is a link to Meg's sitting group in Bolinas: Mountain Source Sangha
Here is a link to a dharma talk by Meg: Dharma talk

Belonging to Earth: Finding Our Place In Nature

Pointing the way on the path of the wild...
For more photos of our group click here: Belonging to Earth
To view photos that Ann took click here: Ann's Photos
To view photos that Fred took click here: Fred's Photos

Here is a youtube video Steve W posted: Big Sur Water Sprites

Carol sent this link to photos & slideshow: Carol's Photos
Here is a link to: Leroy's Photos

In every moment of our lives we are supported by natural systems both seen and unseen. Yet, in our culture, many of us are cut off from the natural world. We have little contact with wild nature, little idea of where we live, and little notion of what directly sustains our daily life. Esalen, surrounded and sustained by wild natural systems, is an ideal place to learn more about our sense of place, of nature, and of belonging to this earth.

This week was personally powerful for me. To be able to share in more depth the place I care for so deeply with all of you that showed up so fully is special. Coming together to understand our belonging to earth we found belonging in self and community as well. Our journey into the burned area is still vivid in my body and mind. The smell of burnt plants and soil, the color and texture of the abundant charcoal skeletons, the green sprouts emerging everywhere, all live with me. Spending my birthday deep in Big Creek in the waters on a sunny clear day is a present I will remember.

May each of you journey well in you "other" lives and worlds. And as David Whyte encourages us, "What urgency calls you to your one love? What shape waits in the seed of you to grow and spread its branches against a future sky?"

Heartfully,
Steven

Simply Wild

Simply Wild at Julia Pfeiffer-Burns State Park
For more photos of the group click here: Simply Wild

Every year
everything
I have ever learned
in my lifetime
leads back to this:
the fires and the black river of loss
whose other side is salvation,
whose meaning
none of us will ever know.

To live in this world
you must be able
to do three things:

To love what is mortal;
to hold it against your bones
knowing your own life depends on it;
and, when the time comes to let it go,
to let it go.

from part of Mary Oliver's "In Black Water Woods"

How wonder to be back in the wilds of Big Sur with a group... and in places that did not burn. How deeply I appreciated the aliveness of these mountains and sea, and of our time together. Thanks to each one of you for a wonderful weekend!
Wildly,
Steven

P.S. I read the Mary Oliver Poems, The Summer Day, In Blackwater Woods, and Sleeping in the Forest. All of these poem can be found in her book New and Selected Works: Volume One which won the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award.

Big Sur Fire

The view of the fire out our front door

Thanks to you all for your thoughts, concerns, and prayers during the fire. It has been a long four weeks filled with concern, action, gratefulness, sadness, friendship, frustration, helping, being helped, writing, interviews, phone calls, laying fire hose, sending "special" things away, dinners, story telling, uncomfortable sleep, smoke, wonder, focus, beauty, loss, love, appreciations and more... Some friends lost homes and belonging, no one was seriously injured.

I will post more when I can. For now know that your care and support is felt. If you want to know more, visit my website to link to personal photos of the fire and other links that tell parts of the story: Big Sur Fire

Two workshop were canceled (one at Esalen and one at Tassajara). All the rest of my 2008 workshops will go forward. Many parts of Big Sur have burned in the fire. Many of the places you might have hiked with me look very different. Many of my favorite places to hike did not burn. Many of the areas that did burn will recover fast. The threat to Big Sur has passed. Highway 1 is open in both directions. Esalen is open and offering up workshops. The beauty of Big Sur remains.

Once again, thanks to you all for you support and care during this time.
Gratefully and with love,
Steven

Wild Mind, Zen Mind: Tassajara Zen Mountain Center

For more photos of our time together: Wild Mind, Zen Mind

Every time I journey to Tassajara — by foot or by car — I am taken by how deeply Tassajara is nestled in the folds of the wildly rugged mountains. The encouragement to "show up" through meditation, along with the wholesome food, natural hot springs, and sharing time on the trails all come together to inspire. I breathe easier as I cross the mountains and return home to all the "things" of my life.

I hope we are able to walk into our daily lives with a bit of "wild mind" as we go about the stuff of our lives.

Gratefully and with a deep bow,
Steven (and Leslie)

For paintings of our friend that recently passed click here: Michael Sawyer
For more photo of Tassajara Zen Center click here: Tassajara

Art of Pilgrimage: Green Gulch May 31, 2008

For more photos click here: Art of Pilgrimage

Here's the Zen story from the "Book of Serenity" the Owl told the group:
Zen Teacher Earth Treasury asked the monk Dharma Eye as he was leaving the monastery, "Where are you going?"
Dharma Eye said, "I'm going on pilgrimage."
Earth Treasury asked, "What is the purpose of pilgrimage?"
Dharma Eye said, "I don't know."
Earth Treasury said, "Not knowing is most intimate."
Dharma Eye was greatly awakened at these words.

Thanks to each of you that showed up to walk the trails on Coyote Ridge and the Coast Trail. I hope the time we share on the path and in the wilds bring aliveness to you and all those your life touches.

Gratefully,
Steven

For more photos of Green Gulch Farm Zen Center click here: Green Gulch

Walk on the Wild Side 2008

Click here to see more photos: Walk on the Wild Side

"Every body needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where Nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul." ~John Muir

To all you that dared to walk on the wild side. May Nature continue to heal you... cheer you (we sure laughed a lot)... and give strength to body and soul. I finish the week filled with gratitude and appreciation for how diverse people can come together and support each other so beautifully along the path.

I hope that each of you carry a bit of the aliveness of the wilds back with you into your daily lives. As the poet David Whyte asks, "What shape waits in the seed of you to grow and spread its branches against a future sky?" May that seed grow strong and touch others with aliveness.

Wildly, Steven

P.S. Check out these sites for more photos of our group:
Richard photos
Where is Hello Kitty... look for the Esalen/Big Sur posts

The Way of Nature

The Way of Nature... here is a video (a first) taken with my camera from our walk in Big Creek. For photos and a group shot of our time in the wilds click here: The Way of Nature

What a great weekend. Thank you all for participating so fully.
Here is a Rumi poem:

The clear pool at the center changes everything.
There are no edges to my loving now.

I've heard it said there's a window that opens
from one mind to another,

but if there's no wall, there's no need
for fitting the window, or the latch.

Open Secret Versions of Rumi by John Moyne & Coleman Barks

May the Way of Nature be with you...
Steven

Big Sur Wilderness Experience April 2008

BSWE on the path into the wilds of Big Sur

It never ceases to amaze me how each and every group comes together to form its own characteristics and distinct personality. Each an every individual brings some critical thread to the fabric of our group. This last week our group wove some beautiful fabric.

The start of my 2008 Esalen workshop "season" began with Big Sur Wilderness Experience Description and the group came together in a heartfelt and adventurous way. Spring is in full gear here and it is said that, "Big Sur in not so much a place as a state of mind." We entered "Big Sur Mind" and sprang forth into the trails of the inner and outer wilds.

For more photos of our group click here: Big Sur Wilderness Experience Photos

Here are the first lines of he David Whyte poem I read on our last day...

What to Remember When Waking
In that first
hardly noticed
moment
to which you wake,
coming back
to this life
from the other
more secret,
moveable
and frighteningly
honest world
where everything
began,
there is a small
opening
into the new day
which closes
the moment
you begin
your plans.

What you can plan
is too small
for you to live.

What you can live
wholeheartedly
will make plans
enough
for the vitality
hidden in your sleep.

Thanks to each and every one of you... may your transitions into your daily life be full of the aliveness and vitality of our week.

Wildly,
Steven

Earth Day... everyday

Point Lobos State Reserve

Earth Day is approaching April 22nd. Of course once a year is not enough, though it is a good time for all of us to consider again how we personally want to live our lives and reflect on our relationship with this third rock from the sun we call—earth. Here are some links to sites that I have found inspiring and have encouraged me to make more informed, sustainable, and healthy choices in my life.
Earthday Network
We Can Solve It
The Story of Stuff
11th Hour Action

Most of this information is for the head... so equally important, I hope you will take some time to "feed" your body and heart. Get out in wild nature. Simply listen, let your self settle, and be touch by the beauty of this world.

Wishing us all a wild Earth Day,
Steven

Unusual Behavior in the Wild Flamingos of Big Sur

Flamingos
Originally uploaded by surharper

The elusive wild flamingos of Big Sur (Phoenicopterus surianus) are rarely seen in their natural habitat. This photo is one of the few known sightings clearly illustrating the unusual habit of flamingo day-sleeping, otherwise known as Avian Diurnal Narcolepsy. While not completely understood by scientist studying the phenomenon, multiple theories have been put forth. Avian Diurnal Narcolepsy (ADN) is sometimes seen in individual birds, but as far as what has been observed in the field, Big Sur flamingos may be the only bird species to demonstrate flock ADN. The leading theory for the cause of this phenomenon is linked to petrol-chemical polymer structures in the Big Sur flock seen here. This photo was taken using a remote motionless sensor cam at one of the few closely guarded locations where the birds can be found. The story about these elusive birds is unbelievable.

Wishing you a happy first of April!

Celebrating the Equinox

Celebrating the day of equal day and night.

For those of us in the northern hemisphere it is the time of the return of green. The time when seeds that have weathered the winter begin to stir... feeling the pull of gravity to set roots, and the call of the sun to move towards the light...

Here in Big Sur the land is shouting out "green, green, green"

THE SUN NEVER SAYS

Even
After
All this time
The sun never says to the earth,
“You owe Me.”

Look
What happens
With a love like that,
It lights the
Whole
Sky.

~Hafiz

2008 Workshop Schedule

photo by Janna Fournier

My 2008 Workshop Schedule is complete (although I might still be adding one of two). I invite you to join me for one of the workshops I am offering this year at Esalen, Tassajara, and Green Gulch. Please visit my website or contact me for more information. I look forward to seeing you in the wilds soon. For complete descriptions click here to go directly to the: Workshop Schedule

• April 27-May 2 • Big Sur Wilderness Experience
• May 9-11 • The Way of Nature
• May 18-23 • Walk on the Wild Side
• May 31 • The Art of Pilgrimage
• June 5-8 • Wild Mind, Zen Mind
• June15-20 • Mountains and Waves
• June 20-22 • Nature and Contemplation
• July 3-6 • The Nature of Zen
• July 6-11 • Big Sur Wilderness Experience
• August 22-24 • Simply Wild
• August 24-29 • Belonging to Earth
• September 26-28 • Nature and Contemplation
• October 17-19 • Conscious Embodiment
• Check website for additional programs & dates

Thanks to all of you who have attended workshops with me over the last years. I hope to this message finds you happy and peaceful.

Warmly,
Steven

Click here to go to my homepage: www.stevenkharper.com

Google: The Art of Pilgrimage

Google retreat at Green Gulch Zen Center

This Saturday I led a retreat, The Art of Pilgrimage, for a group from Google. I was invited to offer this program to Google employees that are part of ongoing meditation groups and trainings. The experience was very rich. The international mix, depth of knowledge, diversity of backgrounds, and sincerity of commitment to exploring inner/outer reaches of the wilds was both meaningful and inspiring to me. For more photos of the group click here: Google Pilgrimage
And for even more photos of the day click on Ario's collection: More Art of Pilgrimage

2008 Website and Workshop Schedule

Notley's Landing and Hurricane Point, Big Sur

I have recently rebuilt my website: www.stevenkharper.com and updated the 2008 workshop schedule. There are many new features added so I hope you will take a look around. I am always wanting to learn, so if you have any feedback I would appreciate hearing about what you like, don't like, possible additions, etc.
My friend Lisa Goettel built the site with my collaboration. I highly recommend her if you are looking to collaborate in creating a website. You can contact her here: Birdwing Designs
From the Wilds,
Steven

Holiday Greetings

Sunset Christmas Day at the Baths

Holiday Greetings

With heartfelt appreciation we send our wishes of peace and happiness to you and your loved ones. May the journey ahead bring the finest of your heart’s desires. May we all know the spirit of aliveness and gratitude in every moment.

with love,
Steven Harper & Family

Return to Steven Harper

Integration and Inspiration

Poet and farmer Wendell Berry feels it is not enough to ask, "What can I do with what I know? without at the same time asking, How can I be responsible for what I know?"

The experience of wilderness can be a powerful one. How we bridge the experience of wild nature and our daily life is a critical inquiry. Our willingness to bring back from wilderness more than ideas and philosophies is vital to this bridging of worlds. We can look to the example of the natural world to see that plants and animals must practice their lifestyle. It would do little good for a plant or animal only to know theories about the niches it fills or where on the food chain it is. It is the lifelong practice, the active living and being what it knows, that keeps it alive and thriving. It is in practice and embodiment of what we discover that we humans find integration.

I am currently working as a facilitator of a strategic planning process with a group engaged in deeply inspiring work. This group has been earnestly asking both of Wendell Berry's questions. Last year this group won the California Governor’s Environmental and Economic Leadership Award for excellence in children’s environmental education. They are at the leading edge of teaching students of all ages about the environment and how we can live in a more balanced sustainable way. They are the Hilton Bialek Habitat at the Carmel Middle School. Here is a link to their website: Hilton Bialek Habitat

Taking inspiration from Wendell Berry and groups like the Habitat each of us, I believe, must ask ourselves, individually and as a collective, both of these questions in a sincere and compassionate manner… "What can I do with what I know?” and "How can I be responsible for what I know?" Then as the answers come, the sometimes challenging and almost always enlivening, work of responsibly practicing what we know comes.

Happy trails to you,
Steven

The Art of Pilgrimage: Fall 2007

For workshop photos click here: Workshop Photos

At the beginning of our retreat I gave a short talk about what pilgrimage has been and is for many cultures and religions. I was asked by the group to share in written word some of what I spoke about on Saturday morning. The following is loosely drawn from my notes.

I have a long standing fascinated by practices and rituals that occur in many cultures. When practices occur across culture boundaries they perhaps speak to the larger human condition and are greater than the culture itself. It is interesting to me that most religious traditions have some form(s) of pilgrimage.

As a general statement, we contemporary westerners living in the United States don’t have a great deal of pilgrimages that emphasize our relationship to our spiritual journey. This opens the question of how we might create and participate in the practice of pilgrimage in a manner that is both skillful and has meaning. Most forms of pilgrimage that I have studied share these characteristics and outcomes:

• A physical journey through time and space
• Leaving home (leaving what is known)
• Simple lifestyle during pilgrimage: e.g. simple clothes are worn that do not reflect status, simple diet, etc.
• Special rituals and/or prayers that marks significant milestones along the journey
• Circumambulation: moving around a sacred temple, object, mountain, and the like
• Pilgrims return with objects (water, statues, talismans) and/or special knowledge from a sacred site
• Pilgrims return with something for the community, family, as well as self
• Emphasize the journey itself as much as or equal to the goal
• Emphasize the merging of inner and outer (e.g. climbing the Mt Fuji inside as I am climbing the physical Mt. Fuji)
• Encourage a relationship to and deep knowing of a geographical place
• Timed with the seasons, sun and moon cycles, or some other natural rhythm

Usually pilgrimage is never just one of these things, but a constellation of many things and experiences woven together to create the pilgrimage. With this background knowledge it is now important that we drop our ideas about what pilgrimage is or might be as we step on the path of pilgrimage. In each step we have the opportunity to discover what pilgrimage is.

Here's the Zen story from the "Book of Serenity" the Owl told the group:
Zen Teacher Earth Treasury asked the monk Dharma Eye as he was leaving the monastery, "Where are you going?"
Dharma Eye said, "I'm going on pilgrimage."
Earth Treasury asked, "What is the purpose of pilgrimage?"
Dharma Eye said, "I don't know."
Earth Treasury said, "Not knowing is most intimate."
Dharma Eye was greatly awakened at these words.

With two claps and a deep bow,
Steven

P.S. Special thanks to Luminous Owl, Michael, and the Green Gulch staff for their support and work!