Pilgrimage

This is a book about pilgrimage, peace building, and being here in the future. Sacred journeys are by far the most peaceful mass rituals that humankind has yet devised for itself. Can these journeys contribute to ending the poverty, radical inequality, and intractable conflict so common on the world stage today? In a radical rethinking of the nature and definition of pilgrimage, anthropologist Ian McIntosh describes this ancient practice as a handy tool in the peace-builder's toolkit. In a range of case studies, he shows how pilgrimage provides geographically and historically separated peoples with a strong sense of their membership in a global community facing global challenges. The text includes autobiographical accounts of the author's experience of pilgrimage in Aboriginal Australia, Communist China, multi-faith Sri Lanka, and the embattled Gaza Strip. There are also academic papers that advance the proposed link between pilgrimage and peace building from Canada, India, Kenya, Pakistan, Russia and elsewhere. The common thread in all these sacred journeys is a vision of peace, justice and sustainability. We are all in this together. For humankind to survive on this planet, pilgrimage, in all its rich diversity, will undoubtedly play a critical role.