Tricycle | Awake in the World

A good travel book makes you feel like you’re there. But, of course, in reality you’re not there. The experiences described belong to the writer, and if you were to travel to the places mentioned your experiences would be unique. This might be especially important to keep in mind when reading spiritual travel books, when the journey is a pilgrimage. Just as we have not physically been to the place that we are reading about, we should be wary to mistake the spiritual insights (or longings) of an author for our own. Travel books are great, but they can’t replace traveling. It was in this spirit that I read Rudolph Wurlitzer’s Hard Travel to Sacred Places (Shambhala Publications, 1994) this past weekend. More »