Customer Reviews

The Art of Pilgrimage: The Seeker's Guide to Making Travel Sacred

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This is one of those books that has the power to change your life. It is a guide to feeding your soul. The author gives us the motivations for taking a pilgrimage-the traveler as student, travel simply for travel's sake, to discover the answers you are seeking, to quench a longing for the unknown, the enticement of traveling to a destination leaving behind your name & past, and many more. The idea that travel can restore a sense of passion and wonder is something of great interest to me. I am stuck in the daily grind of seeing the same scenery and people and doing the same work everyday. My spirit hungers for meaning, beauty, and adventure. This book is the ultimate guide for unconventional travel even if your traveling somewhere conventional. It shows us how to observe and listen in a way that opens up a whole new world to explore. I have enjoyed reading this book and consider author Phil Cousineau a kindred spirit.

Cousineau's book is a worldly companion with a good word whenever I open it. Though composed in comprehensive chapters for the stages of travel, the book is more simply a collection of anecdotes, quotations, insights, and guideposts--many of them as short as a single line. I progessed through its pages at a snail's pace because something on each caught my interest. I drifted into thought instead of reading on. It's a lovely book, perfect for a moment of contemplation and grounding at the start of any day and any journey, or to help put remembered moments into new light.

Have you ever felt a need to reach a certain physical destination or bring some effort to fruition before you die? Why is the human reverence for places such as Notre Dame, Jerusalem, or Mecca so strong? In times past, people made pilgrimages to holy shrines and sacred spots to atone for sins, seek a cure, keep promises, or recover holy ground from barbarians. Today, many people travel to escape reality, or to break a routine.

In "The Art of Pilgrimage" Phil Cousineau says travel can take on a larger role. He proposes a "seeker's guide to making travel sacred." The book explores the steps of the sacred pilgrimage: "The Longing", "The Call", "Departure", "The Pilgrim's Way", The Labyrinth" and "The Arrival."

Cousineau has set down in print an idea that has been floating around my head for some time. I don't seek out the traditional holy places, but I have wandered from one artist's home to another--Nohant or Bath or Rye or Waldon or Bloomsbury or Salisbury. In doing so, I have felt connected to the spirit of the artist who once lived and worked in that space. Perhaps they are my lost saints.

Phil Cousineau has written a very special book that transforms what might be otherwise an ordinary trip into a soulful and profound journey. There are many fantastic personal and anecdotal examples for the traveller contained in the book. Cousineau is as good at this as Bruce Chatwin in his own way. This is a memorable book and you won't want to put it down. It is a great gift to anyone going on a special trip and it need not be a pilgrimage before the trip, but it very well could turn into one once you have read this wonderful book.

The Art of Pilgrimage isn't just for the "spiritual traveler." It's for anyone who wants to do more than visit a shopping mall. Even business travelers can use this book--they'll be inspired to make even short jaunts meaningful by taking a half day off to visit someplace special, and experiencing it with attention and purpose. Cousineau stresses that every trip--whether to The Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, your ancestral village in Ireland, or the magnificent temples in Ankor Wat in Cambodia--can be sacred and soulful if the traveler's heart and imagination are open to experiencing it. With chapters that cover the cycle of the journey, "the longing," "the call," "departure," the pilgrim's way," "the labyrinth," "arrival," and significantly "bringing back the boon," Cousineau's book is the ultimate pep talk for getting ready for, and experiencing what will surely become an unforgettable soulful adventure. With wonderful photographs and illustrations, this makes a great gift for anyone who loves travel. Anyone going anywhere should buy this book first!

When just being a tourist is no longer satisfying and you hunger for more magic moments on the road, please read The Art of Pilgrimage. An initiation in and of itself to prepare and inspire the seeker in us all. I've received valuable insights on the practical steps of pilgrimage while joyously making a spiritual connection to pilgrims down through the ages. Most importantly I've been reminded that a Pilgrimage can happen anytime, anyplace and can become part of restoring the sacred to our daily lives.

Chances are, if you're looking at this book, you're already planning a trip, and are of a mind to make your travel special. If you are not already of a mind to travel, you will be after reading even a little of "Art of Pilgrimage". Read it on the plane, on the bus, at rest stops...but if you read it sitting at home, expect to travel soon...
To put it simply, Cousineau loves to travel, and has written a book that will speak to the traveler in all of us. We are descended from nomads; the instinct is in all of us, but we get bogged down in Mundania. Cousineau mixes great quotes along with observations from his own quests and adventures. The results will most certainly help you to make your own journey a transformative event.

The simple and straight forward writing style combined with liberal use of quotes and tales of travelers gone before make for a majestic and moving tribute to the wanderer in us all.

I probably shouldn't rate this book since I bought it as a gift and didn't read it cover-to-cover. However, what I gleaned from browsing through the book is that it is full of useful suggestions for adding meaning and memory to your travels. One suggestion I liked: while in a foreign country take a small recording device along so that you can record music native to that country (folk songs in Italy, unusual instruments in the Middle East or India, etc.) (You might need to request permission first if you are listening to professional musicians.) I wish I had done this in a fado club in Lisbon or a singing house in Ireland.

The author also encourages meaningful conversations with the native population. Some of my best travel experiences have come from conversing with the residents of the area and being invited to partake in their lives.

This is part travelogue, but very much a deeper philosophical insight into why we travel - and by talking it Cousineau expresses much of what I felt about travel but hadn't really put into words before. It is very much about getting meaning from the places you visit rather than simply visiting them, which is why spiritual and religious pilgrimages mean such a great deal.

The early christian church recognised this and put together a book of pilgrimage sites, places and ways with details of what was on the way and what was there so pilgrims could make their journey. These early travel books make it clearer the inner motive we have to travel.

Certainly the majority of people these days don't travel on pilgrimages as such any more. Yet to use a similar concept, Cousineau talks about getting meaning from the places you visit in the same way. Visiting a place is about understanding it and finding meaning from it. The more you know and understand why you are visiting somewhere the more satisfying the visit.

there are a great number of anecdotes in here - from people like an Anti-nuclear campaigner to inveterate travelers like Peter Ustinov and Cousineau's own experiences. some of these anecdotes are less successful than others, but it is the mix which gives the book strength.

On a purely aesthetic note, I really liked the hardback version of this book from Conari, the jacket is nicely illustrated with faux letters and stamps, and it also comes with a nice little green ribbon place marker. This would make a lovely gift for someone.

While you might not find deep spiritual insight into your pilgrimage or quest, you might get a deeper understanding of the drive and how to make travel a more profound experience.