Satish Kumar has been a pilgrim ever since at the age of eight he joined the brotherhood of wandering Jain monks in his native India. Later he walked the length and breadth of India with Gandhi's successor Vinoba Bhave, persuading landowners to donate a portion of their lands to the poor; and in the 1960s he made an 8,000-mile pilgrimage for peace, which included walking from India over the Himalayas to Paris via Moscow.
In Earth Pilgrim, Satish draws on this personal experience and also his understanding of the spiritual traditions of both East and West. The book takes the form of conversations between Satish and others about the inner and outer aspects of pilgrimage: to be a pilgrim is to be on a path of adventure, to move out of our comfort zones, to let go of our prejudices and preconditioning, to make strides towards the unknown. If we want to tread the pilgrim's path, we need to go beyond ideas of good and evil, and to be dedicated to our quest – to our natural calling. We need to shed not just our unnecessary material possessions, but also our burdens of fear, anxiety, doubt and worry; in this way we can find spiritual renewal and enter on the great adventure into the unknown. Paradoxically, being on a pilgrimage doesn't necessarily mean travelling from one place to another – it means a state of mind, a state of consciousness, a state of fearlessness.
Satish believes that at this stage of human history we now need a new kind of pilgrim, unattached to any form of dogma – 'Earth Pilgrims', who are concerned with this world, not the next, and who are seeking a deep commitment to life in the here and now, upon this earth, in this world. We need to realise that we are all connected, and through that connectivity we become pilgrims.
Acknowledgements.
Foreword by Rupert Sheldrake.
To be a Pilgrim.
We are all Related.
Beyond Good and Evil.
Pilgrim of Truth.
Pilgrim’s Mind.
Pilgrim’s Soul.
Index.
Satish Kumar
Satish Kumar is an internationally renowned speaker on ecological and spiritual issues. He lives in England, and is Editor of Resurgence magazine, Director of Programmes at Schumacher College and founder of the UK?Schumacher Society.
Process and Pilgrimage began in 2009 with a conversation between Philip Franses and Satish Kumar about process in physics and the nature of pilgrimage, where, in each, the adventurer sets out without a clear idea of where he is going, but is open to meet with ‘wholeness’ somewhere along the way.
This is the third year of Process and Pilgrimage events, which is situated at the restored 800 hectare monastery of Abbazia di Spineto in Italy. The five days will be a fascinating mix of discussions and presentations about the projects emerging from the participatory inquiry of Process and Pilgrimage with practical proposals on education – ‘Journey School’, health – immune ‘mind’ and land-use. Read Revival: Growing Health and Education in the Monk’s Garden or to find more information about taking part and online booking visit: www.earthlinksall.com/pp2012
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