The Traveler's Path: Finding Spiritual Growth and Inspiration through Travel (Douglas Brouwer) - Review
Travel can be exciting, inspiring,
informative, and life-changing. I have done some traveling over the years,
including outside the United States, so I have a sense of the benefits of
travel. One of those opportunities came as a result of a clergy renewal sabbatical
grant that enabled Cheryl and me to visit Switzerland and then take a week-long
journey down the Rhine. This was the trip of a lifetime, surpassing even the two
weeks I spent in Oxford during an earlier sabbatical. Much earlier in life, during
my teen years, my family traveled to Brazil to meet my grandfather. Of course,
living as I do just a few miles from the Canadian border, I’ve been to Canada
on a few occasions. Consequently, I have been fortunate to see different parts
of the world, which is not true for everyone. It is said that most people haven’t
traveled more than a few hundred miles from their homes. While travel has numerous
benefits, could it provide a means for spiritual growth? If so, might such
travel need to be intentional so that one is more than simply a tourist?
When it comes to the question of
whether travel can qualify as a pilgrimage, Douglas Brouwer provides some
possible answers. Brouwer is a retired Presbyterian minister who has done a bit
of traveling through the years. Some of that travel could qualify as a
pilgrimage, such as his visits to the Holy Land. But, how do we distinguish
between being a tourist and a pilgrim?
Brouwer, though now fully retired,
has not only spent time traveling, but he has also spent longer periods serving
in various pastoral roles in European churches, both in the Netherlands and in
Switzerland. With his pastoral roles in international settings, along with
other travel opportunities such as helping lead trips to the Holy Land, as a
foundation, Brouwer offers a reflection on The Traveler's Path.
The Traveler’s Path begins
with a chapter Brouwer titles "Our Origin Story." In this chapter,
Brouwer reminds us that people have been on the move from the very beginning of
time, something to keep in mind as we reflect on the question of migration and
immigration laws. Since humans are constantly on the move, what defines travel?
According to the author, a basic definition involves movement from one place to
another for a variety of reasons, from vacations to work, including religious
pilgrimages. This travel can change us as people, both for good and for bad. So,
the question is, what makes for a “worthy adventure”?
Moving to the second chapter,
Brouwer speaks of "The Gift of Curiosity." For the author, this gift
was implanted in him growing up. With that in mind, he recounts the trips his
family took, trips that helped develop within him a sense of curiosity. As this
sense of curiosity developed, so did an adventurous spirit. While curiosity and
an adventurous spirit are good things, he asks further, "Does Travel Make
Us Better People?" (Ch. 3). This is a question that many ask because they are
not sure whether traveling makes us better people or if it is good for the
world. This is where the question of tourism comes into play. If travel is the
same as tourism, is it nothing more than a waste of money and time that is
disastrous to the places visited? This is a good question because many places
in the world are overrun by tourists who leave their mark on the site, and not
for the good. On the other hand, travel can change us for the better if we’re curious
and open to the possibilities brought on by these efforts. In essence, there
are two sides to this question. Even here, there is the question of privilege because
not everyone is free to travel, so how might we "make room for those who
cannot travel?" What of those who are imprisoned and can't move? How might
we address this situation? (Ch. 4).
In Chapter 5, Brouwer invites us to
consider the value of pilgrimage. More specifically, he speaks of "A
Protestant Passport to Pilgrimage." By this, he means to respond to
concerns by Luther and others about Roman Catholic pilgrimages, which Luther
thought contributed to clerical greed. So, while members of other faith
traditions went on pilgrimages, at least until recently, Protestants did not.
However, that is changing. Here he speaks of the visits he made together with
church members to the Holy Land, which he believes constitute pilgrimages. Like
many pastors, he led groups as a tour host (not guide). He reports that these trips
were life-changing. I will confess to having resisted going to the Holy Land, but I did find my 2013 visit to England as
something of a pilgrimage. So, here he invites Protestants to reclaim the
concept of pilgrimage.
Moving on to Chapter 6, titled "Go
into All the World," Brouwer suggests that "pilgrimage is addictive.”
Once you go on one, you want to go on another. Having described trips to the
Holy Land in the previous chapter, in this chapter he focuses on a similar trip
to Greece and Turkey, to follow the footsteps of Paul. Again, he speaks of
these pilgrimages, whether to the Holy Land or Greece and Turkey, helping make
the biblical story come alive. In Chapter 7, Brouwer expands the conversation with
a chapter titled "Daring to Get Lost." Here he speaks of the value of
going off the beaten track, going places that might not constitute religious
sites but might have meaning, even if it is only one's backyard.
In Chapter 8, "So Many
Roads!" Brouwer once again asks whether pilgrimages have made us better
people. Brouwer understands the question but suggests that one need not feel
guilty if one can't answer the question. There are no guarantees, but if you’re
able, it is good to get out into the world. Remember that pilgrimages take
different forms, even internal ones. In this chapter, Brouwer shares the story
of his pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago. As with the other chapters,
Brouwer brings into the conversation one of his trips, with this story
illustrating the truth that even as there is more than one path to the city, all
the paths allow one to experience a pilgrimage. For Brouwer, this particular journey
changed the way he looked at the world.
To this point, Brouwer has largely
focused on what we might call travel, some of which might qualify as
pilgrimage. In this chapter, Brouwer asks whether a mission trip might be a
pilgrimage (Ch. 9). In sharing stories of mission trips, he invites the reader
who has participated in one to consider whether it changed their life and
perspective on the world. He also asks the reader to consider who most benefits—the
missionary or the recipients of the mission?
The conversation about the
spiritual value of travel continues in Chapter 10, which Brouwer has titled "Revisiting
Babel." The focus here is language. He points out that most American
travelers don't need to learn another language because so many around the world
know English. This is quite true! However, when he served as the pastor of an
international, English-speaking congregation in Zurich, he was required to
learn German by the Swiss government. What he discovered is that language learning,
though challenging for adults, can be part of a movement from hostility to
hospitality.
In Chapter 11, Brouwer invites us
to join in "Reframing the Art of Travel." He opens with a reflection
on his father's work as an artist and what he learned about viewing art.
Through art and cultural artifacts, one can know others better. Art is one way
to experience others, but so are other monuments. Then, in Chapter 12, titled
"Stolpersteine: Stumbling Stones," he takes note of an effort that
began in Germany, where brass plates, engraved with the names of Holocaust
victims, were placed in the stepping stones in front of the places they once
lived before being arrested and deported. Thousands of these memorials have
been placed across Europe as a reminder of lives taken unjustly. I thought, as
I read this chapter, that efforts are currently underway in the United States
to remove reminders of injustice as part of "patriotic history."
Brouwer notes that some public art, rightly, makes us uncomfortable, but also
calls for a response on our part —that is, a call to action.
In Chapter 13, titled "There's
No Place Like 'Home'," Brouwer takes us to Zurich, where he learned anew
what home is. Here again, he reflects on learning a new language as well as From Zurich, Brouwer takes us on another
journey, one that leads to "The Romance of 'Barbarous Coasts'" (Ch.
14), in which he recounts a journey to Morocco (once known as the Barbary
Coast). Here he speaks of responsible and informed tourism, which includes
"paying attention to the way we dress and interact with the people we meet,
and being respectful of local customs" (p. 163).
As the journey nears its end,
Brouwer writes that "You Can't Go Home Again" (Ch. 15). By that, he
means that you cannot return to the past reality unchanged. Here he speaks of
time spent as an interim minister in the Hague, Netherlands. Being of Dutch
background (his grandparents on both sides being Dutch immigrants, he
discovered that he was truly American and not Dutch. He didn't know the
language or really the culture, all of which he discovered, much to his
surprise. Thus, he learned that the Netherlands is not his home; the United
States is. Western Michigan is home, even if he can't specifically explain why.
He just knows it is home.
Chapter 16 is titled "How Can
We Write the Final Chapter?" Here he reflects on the idea of the bucket
list, an idea that became popular after the Morgan Freeman/Jack Nicholson movie
some years ago. The message here is that travel can't simply be something that
we check off the list. Rather, the question is one of yearning or longing that
continues with us as we take the journey to its end. It is the journey that
leads to life life-enriching and transforming experience that is important. The
journey continues.
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