“He’s on a mission. Move over!”
“He’s on a mission. Move over!”
That was the advice that a mother was giving her young son out on the trail yesterday. She saw me powering up the trail while her little family of four were meandering down the hillside path. It wasn’t so much a remark about me as it was a teaching moment for the youngster to make room for other hikers. You know—that age when you still don’t get that there is an invisible line on an unmarked path.
But the comment made me smile and so I remarked as I passed by, “Was it that obvious?” She nodded and chirped, “Oh yeah,” which could have just as easily have been her way of saying, “Duh!”
The comment about being on a mission was true on two levels. In recent months I had to learn the art of patience and acceptance during the first four months of my leg injury, but now am back to my more natural state of being—ambition, training and goal setting.
Angel’s Rest Sunset, June 1, 2023
My leg is largely healed. Now it’s time to build back strength and muscle tone. Last week I tested my leg with my most ambitious hike yet since the injury—a 4.6 mile round trip to Angel’s Rest in the Columbia Gorge and its 1500 foot elevation gain. It gave me a good barometer. Upon completion my good leg felt like it had hiked five miles. My injured leg felt like it had survived ten miles. I did it, but it is clear I am not ready to tackle the 500-mile Camino Frances for a few weeks yet. My physical therapist confirmed that today saying, “You still aren’t ready to run.”
Saturday, the day of “He’s on a mission” statement, I was powering my way over a 6-mile route not only trying to complete the distance, but keep my pace just below a jog. It wasn’t until I encountered the family that I discovered how driven I must have appeared.
The comment also revealed the whole underlying premise of this Pedal Pilgrim initiative. I was planning to write about this anyway under the title “The Premise” when the mother gave me a better and more revealing title: “He’s on a mission. Move over!”
Those of you who have been following my writing over the last decade or have read my book Alone: A 4,000 Mile Search for Belonging have heard me speak about feeling like I have spent most of my professional life straddling two worlds—the religious world of my childhood and the “spiritual but not religious” world of my contemporaries.
The straddling is at times personally uncomfortable. I often joke that I am an equal opportunity offender—too secular for the religious folks and too religious for the secular folks. But I have chosen this cultural straddle, quite frankly, because both worlds have gifts that are going to be needed as we navigate this uncertain time as a society.
My more secular friends have the imagination, creativity and experimental character to lead us into a new future. The religious traditions of which I have studied and played a part have the wisdom of the lived experience of centuries and millennia.
Historical wisdom and creative imagination.
I believe the future is going to emerge when we rely on the gifts of both. Unfortunately, my experience has been that much of our religious culture lacks the imagination to find its place in the future. And, the more secular culture has largely abandoned the rich offerings of the wisdom that has sustained our cultures through the centuries. I believe that this either/or split personality of America is not going to get it done.
I admit,, however, I don’t have the full answer. I know that. But I do know that the culture of pilgrimage that I am trying to nurture is one place where our religious institutions and our secular society can meet and break through the split personality of our society.
PBS frames their Sacred Journeys episodes with this intro: “As long as humans have walked, they have walked to get closer to their gods.” The series paints a portrait of a culture returning to the art of pilgrimage.
Americans are increasingly looking for opportunities for personal transformation and going by foot, by bike and by canoe or kayak on adventures of self-discovery. At the same time religious traditions are resurrecting the devotional practice of pilgrimage including Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism and Shinto.
We live in an uncertain time with an uncertain future. I believe the path forward is not through either religion or our secular culture, but through the unique gifts of both.
Historical wisdom and creative åçimagination.
Some day I hope to have my feet planted in one world where wisdom and imagination live on the same side of the street.
The mother was right. I am on a mission.
No more either/or. America needs both/and.
Brian Heron
Religious Innovator and Spiritual Pilgrim