Author: Gerard van Keken

Let us face reality, the world is in crisis: a financial crisis, an economic crisis, but maybe above all, a fundamental crisis about ourselves. It is as Hall (1996, p. 595) and many others stated: ‘a crisis of identity’. Change is everywhere, what was stable yesterday, is uncertain tomorrow. Many of us fear the future and are overwhelmed with feelings of uncertainty and insecurity. Religion, with its original meaning of ‘connecting’, is for many of us no longer the answer as it used to be. Still, there are a lot of things that are worth searching for, both within and beyond religion. An interesting concept which might help to find ourselves is the search for identity or in other words, the quest for meaning.

In religion these quests are sometimes called pilgrimage. A Pilgrimage is defined as a departure from daily life, on a journey in search of spiritual well-being. It involves leaving home, making a journey, arriving at a destination that usually has some religious significance, and the returning home (Bradley, 2009). Not forgetting that the journey to the destination is just as much worth as reaching the destination. And above all: after the journey we should have changed.

Spiritual journeys and tourism have so many things in common! One essential point is that we break with our daily lives and sometimes come closer to ourselves and ask the question: what am I doing and how far am I? Bradley describes in his book ‘A spiritual and cultural journey PILGRIMAGE, the history of pilgrimage and lots of inspiring places all over the world: Rome, Santiago de Compostela, St.Andrews, Iona, Assisi, Lourdes, Taizé from the viewpoint of Christianity. From the perspective of other religions, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism (not religions, but ways of life) and lots of other religions, there are thousands of other inspiring places.

The question (apart from a commercial perspective) could be, if and why these places are so inspiring? The answers are multiple, but the points made by Erik van ‘t Klooster in ‘Inspiring places’ (part one) are helpful. A facilitating environment should help you to get there, both in terms of accessibility and being there for some time. Your journey is a sense of accomplishment. You have reached the place related to a certain goal, which might inspire you for the rest of your life. The journey takes you away from your familiar surroundings and puts you on a different level. There is the interaction with “the Other”, not only with other people and their culture, but especially within ourselves. You might start asking questions on your personal life and the world we are living in. For the inspiration one should be looking both outside oneselves, as within oneselves. Two important aspects should be added. The first is that places have meanings. Inspiring places can have many meanings for lots of people. These meanings are often the reason why people go on pilgrimage and/or tourist trips. The second point is that inspiring places have a certain power of attraction. This power of attraction is hidden in its meaning but can also be found in its appearance or genius loci, the spirit of the place.

So my idea and cornerstone for overcoming our (personal) crises, is to go on spiritual and cultural journeys, pilgrimages, to any place that could be inspiring. And ask ourselves the question: what are we living for?

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Bradley, I. (2009). Pilgrimage. A spiritual and cultural journey. Oxford: Lion Hudson plc.
Hall, S. (1996). The Question of Cultural Identity. In: Hall, S., Held, D., Hubert, D. & K. Thompson (eds). Modernity, an Introduction to Modern Societies. Oxford/Malden: Blackwell Publishers Inc.