16 September 2008 The beginning


DAY ONE:  ANNIVERSARY PILGRIMAGE 2008 

Ribble's blog is a digital journal recording the progress and reflection of a spiritual journey taken on two maps. One, an unfolding ground map as referrals are asked for leading to the next interview. The second is a spiritual map upon which reflection of the adventures on the ground takes place. Here are the reasons for this current journey:

• Tenth anniversary of my European pilgrimage
• An Independent Contract for The Evergreen State College – Olympia, WA
• Learn about my question: How does emptiness (both Sanskrit-Sunyata and Greek-Kenosis) impact the human sense of time and identity?
• Refresh my spiritual and creative process again

Ribble hunts Cairotic portals, sometimes leaping in with abandon on strong days and at other times anxiously peering in with a sniff and trepidation. We are not always ready for opportunity. That is why it takes rigorous training of the senses to discern subtlety—fine distinction. It is not just the natural senses—Ribble has been told that there are corresponding spiritual senses—it is an open question at the moment, of just what they are and how the adept might aid themselves with this wisdom. 

16 September 2008 The beginning 

The 2008 journey is more of a quest than the pilgrimage I took in 1998 because I’m looking for something. In a way, it’s something I think I’ve lost. About 20 years ago, biology took me by surprise and I discovered I had another clock ticking inside. Urgency to scratch down through the surface of life and discover my true self and purpose began waking me up at night. It felt like a desperate need to get a deep breath. Early in life I chose not to go the route so many of my friends or family members went with like marriage, children, home and hearth. When I went through the drop-down menus of life, they didn’t have all the options I thought could be on them. I was blessed and fortunate to have a father who was a life explorer. He gently suggested, though not in computer metaphor, that I could customize my menu bar to better fit me as a user. Through all the stages of life so far I have re-customized my menu bar again and again, always discovering new options. This might be why my desktop has never looked quite like that of my peers.

During the Jesus Movement era of the early 1970s I became a believer. We were a small parade of raggedy, barefoot hippies from the late 1960s that were swept into Christianity during that time. Many of us had looked at eastern and western philosophy, but came home to Christianity. I have a funny theory that some of us became Christians, and some became Dead-Heads—peace, love and rock-n-roll was the motto of both groups in the split and we all seemed inclined to form into communes. It wasn’t until later that you could tell a distinct difference between the groups—it’s all about trajectory!

Unfortunately, the experience on the Christian side of the cultural split seemed to close in like a cult. The brand of Christianity I was involved in was narrowing and begin to feel like it was  holding me back from knowing the love of God as promised in the Bible. In a word, I wanted more. I wanted to know the unknowable, ineffable God. That could not be done in an exclusively discursive and prescriptive environment.

On this trip, I hope to better capture the wisdom available ten years ago on my last journey (Europe). At that time, I took a portable word processor with me, which proved burdensome and I had to ship it home with friends I met in France. I took up the long standing organic method of the handwritten journal.

Now I am toting a small EEE PC, weighing 32 ounces, a Fuji Finepix digital camera with spare memory cards and fancy card reader. I also have a slick pay-as-you-go Virgin Mobile phone and have already used it because I needed to be rescued by a friend and taken to the train station. Thank you Fallon Kazan! However, after rushing to the station, I found out the train was 40 minutes late. Yikes! So I used that slick phone to call my sister to say I would be late and I would keep her posted.

Actually, this happened to me once in Marlow-on-Thames, England when the train didn't come at all and the train company sent out seven Pakistani cab drivers to pick up the waiting riders. Because of the stunned disbelief of the riders, the poor drivers had a hard time convincing us it was true. But when we found out it was free (and there is safety in numbers), we chose to crowd in to the little cabs and ride the long way into town. The drivers were comedians and that helped. I doubt that would happen in America now...

I have chosen to constrain my pilgrimage for greater attention.  Since I usually sleep-walk through my daily life like most work-a-day folks, hence the need for pilgrimage, I make this a different routine to awaken my senses.  Following are the constraints of my pilgrimage. The Celts believed to go away from your world refreshes or wakes up your senses. Leaving your milieu makes you more alert and curious. This is on every level. I chose to constrain my path is the following way: 

• Travel under my own power (or on mass transit): This way I am not insulated from the immediate connections with places and other humans like when you are in a car. 
• Eat simply On a cellular level, I want to cue my mind and body that this is not business as usual. I dried and roasted everything myself: vegetables and spices for a soup mix, fruits, roasted my own nuts, and have simple noodles and oatmeal so that it is light for travel. It also helps me to self-cater wherever possible. 
• I will ask to be referred to each interview of my trip. I found my former spiritual director, who taught me Centering Prayer and Welcoming Prayer. We lost connection with one another over some years. I will begin my interviews with her and ask for a referral to someone else she thinks might be interested in the conversation. And it goes from there.