A pilgramage to D'ni

pil·grim –noun
1. A person who journeys, esp. a long distance, to some sacred place as an act of religious devotion
2. A traveler or wanderer, esp. in a foreign place.
3. One who embarks on a quest for something conceived of as sacred.

...English biologist, Rupert Sheldrake, was asked where he would begin to effect change in the world...He said "I would change tourism into pilgrimage, help tourists become pilgrims."

What is the difference between a tourist and a pilgrim? ...tourists take pictures. Pilgrims...go farther, they sit and meditate, they light candles...When traveling as pilgrims, we come with vunerability and humility. The pilgrim participates, the tourist observes.

~Lauren Artress

Do you come to D'ni to observe, or participate? Are you here just to ooh at the pretty sights, or do you take to heart 'find a way, make a home?'

It's an interesting thought, being a pilgrim of D'ni. Coming to a place with the intent of honoring the spirit, the soul of a place, but also a pilgrim, in the sense of finding a new path, a new way, a place to call home.

What would being a D'ni pilgrim entail? Converting to some old D'ni religion? Silly thought, that. Being a D'ni pilgrim means only to walk in the space with respect, with mindfullness of where we are, and those who have walked that space before.

Ask someone who's visited Pompeii. It's nigh on impossible to walk through there without feeling the brush of the souls who died suddently there. But we can honor the D'ni, without turning the place into a giant museum/mausoleum, where we all must be solemn and sorrowful. The D'ni laughed, and lived, and loved in this space. We honor their spirits by bringing life back into the cavern.

Being a D'ni pilgrim, and not just a tourist, also means being willing to be a part of the new D'ni. Being willing to experience D'ni as a whole place, and help draw the life out of the stones. Not just viewing it as just another place to hang out and shoot the breeze.

When you are in D'ni, do you hear the whispers of the past, do you ponder the feet that tread on those stones? Do you feel a pang of loss? Do you look around and wonder at the space around you, every time you visit? Is D'ni a world to you, that is something more than the one you see every day?

Perhaps then, you are a pilgrim, and not just a tourist.