Are you a Tourist or a Pilgrim?

[OGreenlee]

Only the walker who sets out toward ultimate things is a pilgrim. In this lies the terrible difference between tourist and pilgrim. The tourist travels just as far, sometimes with great zeal and courage, gathering up acquisitions (a string of adventures, a wondrous tale or two) and returns the same person as the one who departed. There is something inexpressibly sad in the clutter of belongings the tourist unpacks back at home. The pilgrim is different. The pilgrim resolves that the one who returns will not be the same person as the one who set out. Pilgrimage is a passage for the reckless and subtle. The pilgrim--and the metaphor comes to us from distant times--must be prepared to shed the husk of personality or even the body like a worn out coat. A Buddhist dictum has it that "the Way exists but not the traveler on it." For the pilgrim the road is home; reaching your destination seems nearly inconsequential. --Andrew Schelling, Meeting the Buddha, edited by Molly Emma Aitken

[Anna Tortuga]

pilgrim. don't know if its the best option though.

[tlegray]

Very Interesting. I can't imagine traveling and not coming back somehow a little changed from the experience....hopefully for the better.

[cyndyj1]

Originally Posted by OGreenlee

Only the walker who sets out toward ultimate things is a pilgrim. In this lies the terrible difference between tourist and pilgrim. The tourist travels just as far, sometimes with great zeal and courage, gathering up acquisitions (a string of adventures, a wondrous tale or two) and returns the same person as the one who departed. There is something inexpressibly sad in the clutter of belongings the tourist unpacks back at home. The pilgrim is different. The pilgrim resolves that the one who returns will not be the same person as the one who set out. Pilgrimage is a passage for the reckless and subtle. The pilgrim--and the metaphor comes to us from distant times--must be prepared to shed the husk of personality or even the body like a worn out coat. A Buddhist dictum has it that "the Way exists but not the traveler on it." For the pilgrim the road is home; reaching your destination seems nearly inconsequential. --Andrew Schelling, Meeting the Buddha, edited by Molly Emma Aitken

Very eloquent. Pilgrim, again and again.

[JEZ]

I order to qualify as a pilgrim, must you return home?

[Aimee'n'Bill]

Very well stated. Something to think about for the next 30 odd days. I'm going for Pilgrim.

[JudyBluEyes]

The tourist travels just as far, sometimes with great zeal and courage, gathering up acquisitions (a string of adventures, a wondrous tale or two) and returns the same person as the one who departed.

I'm a tourist. When I travel I don't set out towards ultimate things.. whatever that means... I have yet to travel anywhere that has changed who I am fundamentally. I travel to experience and learn about new places, where the people and the customs and the sights and the sounds and even the light is different from home. I see nothing wrong with acquiring a string of adventures or a wondrous tale or two along the way....

[Rissask]

Originally Posted by JudyBluEyes

I'm a tourist. When I travel I don't set out towards ultimate things.. whatever that means... I have yet to travel anywhere that has changed who I am fundamentally. I travel to experience and learn about new places, where the people and the customs and the sights and the sounds and even the light is different from home. I see nothing wrong with acquiring a string of adventures or a wondrous tale or two along the way....

Ditto this.
Just a plain old tourist; though I prefer 'traveller', tourist sounds like an old guy with a Panama hat, Hawaiian shirt, sandals with white socks, and a camera slung round his sunburned neck .

[JEZ]

[quote=JudyBluEyes]I'm a tourist. .... I have yet to travel anywhere that has changed who I am fundamentally.....:[/QUOTE]

OK, so you are only a Tequila hound when you are in Playa! Ha ha ha!

[JudyBluEyes]

[quote=JEZ]

Originally Posted by JudyBluEyes

I'm a tourist. .... I have yet to travel anywhere that has changed who I am fundamentally.....:[/QUOTE]

OK, so you are only a Tequila hound when you are in Playa! Ha ha ha!

Hahaha!! Actually I had some tequila the other day. My brother-in-law a couple he wanted me to try... don't ask me the names, I don't remember..
Just keep that bottle of Clase Azul full for me ok?

[JEZ]

[quote=JudyBluEyes]

Originally Posted by JEZ

Hahaha!! Actually I had some tequila the other day. My brother-in-law a couple he wanted me to try... don't ask me the names, I don't remember..
Just keep that bottle of Clase Azul full for me ok?

Its always full and ready for you and Steves next pilgrimage to Playa. Oops, sorry I meant tourist visit!

[JudyBluEyes]

[quote=JEZ]

Originally Posted by JudyBluEyes

Its always full and ready for you and Steves next pilgrimage to Playa. Oops, sorry I meant tourist visit!

Hmmm......... neither pilgrimage nor tourist visit this time... hehehe!!! But I wonder what ultimate things you can find in a bottle of tequila???

[JEZ]

[quote=JudyBluEyes]

Originally Posted by JEZ

Hmmm......... neither pilgrimage nor tourist visit this time... hehehe!!! But I wonder what ultimate things you can find in a bottle of tequila???

Well you already found the Ultimate (for you) Tequila - Clase Azul. Its enough, or perhaps too much is not enough...

[JudyBluEyes]

[quote=JEZ]

Originally Posted by JudyBluEyes

Well you already found the Ultimate (for you) Tequila - Clase Azul. Its enough, or perhaps too much is not enough...

Guess I'm going to have to pace myself....

[roni]

The Pilgrim

He's a poet, he's a picker, he's a prophet, he's a pusher
He a pilgrim and a preacher and a problem when he's stoned
He's a walking contradiction, partly truth and partly fiction
Taking every wrong direction on his lonley way back home

There's been a lot of wrong directions on that lonely way back home.