Image and Pilgrimage - Reflection on Conclusions

Reflection on Authors concusion

"Pilgrimage should be regarded not merely as an ideal model but as an institution with a history" 

The author is trying to separate a fake pilgrimage from something that is rooted in history. He points out that there is not a perfect model of a pilgrimage but something that has shifted along with culture changing and molding based of the culture that exists at the time. It is something that can shift and flow as needed. The question that comes to mind is what if culture ever decides that these pilgrimages are no longer valuable and decides to get rid of them. I guess religion does not often change there values and so I can see those lasting but the hikes in North America has no tie to any religion.

"its pilgrimages tend to revert form the liminold to the liminal"

Its at the core of pilgrimages to flip things in its head. I think that is the thing I have valued most about my experience on a trail is how much it switches everything from culture and turns it upside down.

 Christian pilgrimage are stratified into four major level:

 (1) International - more liminold
(2) National
(3) Regional 
(4) Intervillage - more liminal 

I do not fully understand this. I guess I can see that some pilgrimages can be international meaning shared among many nations and then continuing on down the list. But I don't really understand why international pilgrimages would be more liminold, I would think that international pilgrimages are ones that would be separate from as much culture as it could and ones that are local are the ones that represent culture the most.


 million visit the national parks as expressed by "secular psalms like America the beautiful" not longer anything but recreational

 This idea really blow my mind: why is it that in America we have viewed are national lands as something to be feared when we first started to come and now that we have some value to them we only see them as something to be admired as beautiful. There is no depth to how we look at our lands in America, they have no deep connection to religion or anything past beauty. The Native Americans were the only ones that saw this land as anything more than something to be used. I wonder what America would look like if we saw the land as the native Americans saw the land.




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