The BPT’s philosophy emphasises personal fulfilment ”” on pilgrimage, says their website, ”˜You are free to be the best person you can dream of being’ ”” but also social conscience: they encourage pilgrims to give something back, whether by picking up litter, buying locally or talking to a stranger. They also promise that ”˜You will rediscover your relationship with self and Nature. Engaging with the world in the way your body was designed to do is a sure path to feeling grateful for being alive.’
It is, in short, a very 21st-century kind of spirituality. It has much in common with the atheist church the Sunday Assembly, whose slogan is ”˜Live better, help often, wonder more’. Which sounds very much like the self-help tradition ”” a term Hayward happily applies to pilgrimage. ”˜It is a self-help technique, as much as anything else. But religion, of course, is a self-help”¦’ He checks himself. ”˜I mean, would it call itself self-help?’
It’s a complex question, but as far as Christianity goes I think the answer is probably no. Jesus provoked not so much ”˜a sense of wonder’ as fear, astonishment, fiercely personal hatred and even more fiercely personal love. He spoke about individual fulfilment, but said that the only way to it was a slow death by crucifixion. He showed compassion, but often in startling ways ”” negotiating with devils, controlling the weather, raising the dead. It was not your average Ted talk.
Read it all.
(Spectator) Dan Hitchens–Pilgrimages are back ”“ with less Christianity
The BPT’s philosophy emphasises personal fulfilment ”” on pilgrimage, says their website, ”˜You are free to be the best person you can dream of being’ ”” but also social conscience: they encourage pilgrims to give something back, whether by picking up litter, buying locally or talking to a stranger. They also promise that ”˜You will rediscover your relationship with self and Nature. Engaging with the world in the way your body was designed to do is a sure path to feeling grateful for being alive.’
It is, in short, a very 21st-century kind of spirituality. It has much in common with the atheist church the Sunday Assembly, whose slogan is ”˜Live better, help often, wonder more’. Which sounds very much like the self-help tradition ”” a term Hayward happily applies to pilgrimage. ”˜It is a self-help technique, as much as anything else. But religion, of course, is a self-help”¦’ He checks himself. ”˜I mean, would it call itself self-help?’
It’s a complex question, but as far as Christianity goes I think the answer is probably no. Jesus provoked not so much ”˜a sense of wonder’ as fear, astonishment, fiercely personal hatred and even more fiercely personal love. He spoke about individual fulfilment, but said that the only way to it was a slow death by crucifixion. He showed compassion, but often in startling ways ”” negotiating with devils, controlling the weather, raising the dead. It was not your average Ted talk.
Read it all.