by Michael Winters
Imagine yourself standing in front of your childhood home. See the color of the front door. Remember what you can about what is behind each window.
Now, where did you move after you left this home? Imagine yourself walking there. It might be far away. It might take you a week or a month to walk there. That’s okay. You are a pilgrim on your way.
Keep walking to each home that has been your home. Stop in front of each one. Remember what you can and keep going.
You eventually come to your current home, the place where you live. You eventually come to today, sitting in your chair, looking at the screen, reading.
You are a pilgrim. You arrived here. This was your destination. I know, I know, it’s not your permanent destination, but you can’t know much about that, so don’t worry about it. This was your destination. You are here. You are a pilgrim.
“Google maps sketch of a future walk: Coming home from every home I’ve lived in” by Michael Winters
I’ve sometimes used walking as an important structure to my art projects, like in Where the Good Way Is or Every Minute to the Other Side of the Valley. I set a pre-planned route and make photographs along it. The text and map above describe a walk I’d like to do, but haven’t yet. I’d like to walk home from every home I’ve lived in. (Full disclosure: this map skips the house I lived in until I was 3. I don’t really remember it.) This idea has been in my head for about two years now, so I should go ahead and do it. To me, this is about being fully present to reality now. It’s about acknowledging the past, but arriving fully embodied in the present. I have been a pilgrim. I am a pilgrim. I will be a pilgrim, but the challenge for me is to be present. As Pascal famously said, “All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” It’s easier for me to be a pilgrim on the journey than the pilgrim who has arrived, but it’s necessary to do what Pastor Jamaal has spoken more than once: “Unpack your bags” and, from this week’s sermon (check out that T-shirt), “Seize the moment.”