In 2012, when Emilio Estevez released his film, The Way, many people began to talk about walking on the Camino de Santiago. For over a thousand years, Christian pilgrims have walked this route across northern Spain. But it took a feature film to put the Camino, the pilgrims who walk it, and perhaps even the idea of pilgrimage, on the map. We know that followers of some other religions are more aware of pilgrimage, even expect to make a pilgrimage as an expression or requirement of their faith. And we know that many people consider their trip to Graceland or to some rock star’s grave a pilgrimage of sorts. However, most of us are unlikely to see pilgrims of the traditional kind in our day-to-day lives. We don’t see pilgrims in Manhattan, in Orlando at spring break, in Vancouver, or in any of the places to which we might travel. And we don’t often see them in our hometowns. Perhaps they are there, but we do not recognize them.
For a pilgrim, the meaning lies largely in the journey itself and not so much in the destination. No wonder then that we associate pilgrimage primarily with walking, as well as with physical exertion, unpredictable encounters, and tangible dangers. Anyone who has traveled on an Outward Bound type of wilderness expedition knows the rich takeaway value of experience; classic allegories such as Pilgrim’s Progress also help us draw meaningful lessons from such adventures. This way of thinking about journeys helps us to understand that pilgrimage is not—indeed cannot be—about arriving. It must be about the experiences, the prayers, the companions, the physical challenges, and the conversations along the way.
Some teachers are pilgrims. For the pilgrim teacher, the meaning lies in the teaching journey itself. Sadly, some teachers have retirement as their goal—a goal extrinsic to teaching (and likely damaging to teaching). Happily, some teachers want to change the world, another goal that some claim is extrinsic to teaching. Neither of these motivations really catches our understanding of the pilgrim teacher. We believe that the pilgrim teacher focuses on today’s teaching journey. Doubtless, she has certain learning goals in view for her students. Perhaps she even hopes they help change the world. And such goals of course shape what she has planned for today.
For the pilgrim, today is the point. And of course the pilgrim teacher thinks not only about his students’ learning, but he thinks about his own growth as a teacher and as a person. Is the journey transforming him? Is he becoming a better person because of this work?
I want to invite you to consider how the idea of teaching as pilgrimage might transform your teaching. There is a distinction between a human being and a human doing. Often the most dedicated workers—including teachers—run the risk of finding their worth in what they do, in how they measure up to standards that have been imposed on by others. A pilgrim, however, is concerned with being and with becoming.
The process of becoming is a journey, and on that journey the pilgrim might do a variety of things. However, those things do not define her. Whether she is journeying to a holy site for a particular reason (for example, to get to Santiago) or whether the journey itself is her focus, she is driven from within and her desire is to grow from her experiences. This observation is directly relevant for the pilgrim teacher who experiences the daily successes and failures that are normal in teaching. Teachers have hundreds of interactions and do countless activities in a given day. Good teachers should be proud of all they accomplish in such a brief window of time.
However, if a teacher’s value is found in her actions, what will she do when she fails? And what is to prevent her from a developing a giant ego if she succeeds continually? Her worth and her value cannot come from her actions. Her actions come out of the belief that she is valuable and contributing her own self; as she contributes, she grows and learns continually along the way. For pilgrim teachers, the overall journey itself is the focus, not the ultimate success and failure of each lesson, learning strategy, unit, or initiative. And, with this focus, the teacher becomes stronger and wiser as her journey continues.
A pilgrim’s motivation is transformation, and thus his approach is reflective and intentional. He is alert to his own processing, as well as to what is happening around him as he completely invests himself in his journey. Opportunities abound for teachers to invest themselves in worthy causes, and most teachers know that there is always more that can be done. It is difficult at times to know what to give our time and attention to, and what to let pass by. It is easy for a teacher to become overwhelmed by all of the needs she sees.
To address this conundrum, the pilgrim teacher is intentional and creative. There is an old Ignatian method of reflection called the Daily Examen that has breathed life into my own pilgrim journey. The practice involves reflecting every evening on two questions—one positive and one negative. For example, for what am I most thankful, and for what am I least thankful? Or, when did I feel most alive, and when did I feel most drained? To reflect every evening in this manner is to process one’s pilgrimage, and ultimately, to discern patterns over time that can inform future decisions. However she chooses to do so, the pilgrim teacher pauses to reflect and process her experience in order to invest herself more fully and appropriately in the journey and to learn through it.
The pilgrim notices other travelers on the journey and welcomes them around the campfire in the evening, to share stories and to share food. The word companion, in fact, derives from the French word for sharing bread. The pilgrim keeps records of the pearls of wisdom he learns from others as well as those he has discovered on his own. The author of one of the other articles in this issue of the CEJ has talked about rereading his Camino journal and rediscovering those pearls from the way. One of those pearls is a postcard from a Camino companion. It says: “Each of us is a road by which the Word comes into the world. And this is what the road asks of us: that we journey to the end.”
In the case of the pilgrim teacher, these companions are both our colleagues and students. We are one another’s best resources and must make space to sit and share our experiences with one another. In a world where people often feel alone and distant from one another, we must take the time to stop to build campfires—and then beckon others to sit and join in sharing stories for a while. Our experiences mold us. We must share them with one another to grow, to understand better those around us, and simply to practice seeing the world through the eyes of others. Pilgrim teachers recognize that the journey is meant to be shared with sister and brother travelers, young and old, and that all are stronger for the journey because they share adventures along the way.
The teacher pilgrim sees the classroom experience as part of a journey, and she welcomes younger travelers with open arms. She shares her stories with them and welcomes them to share theirs with her. She is intentional and reflective throughout, conscious of the growth within reach for both her and her students as they journey through their school year together. She is afraid of neither failure nor success because these do not define her; rather who she is becoming and who her students are becoming are matters of greater importance. She has high expectations of all, and is constantly reflecting and experimenting in light of this. Because she desires to grow personally, she is also intentional with other faculty members as she recognizes that they have a wealth of life and perspective to share with her. Her goal is transformation, for herself, for her students, and for others. She is completely invested in this goal, but not at the expense of her well-being; on the contrary, she must be well herself in order to give to others.
The pilgrim’s personal journey informs the teaching journey as well. Both teacher and students are much the better for the pilgrim’s intentionality. I want to invite you to view teaching as pilgrimage. If you have followed my reasoning, you know that I do not mean you teach without long-term goals in mind. You may even want to change the world. But I invite you to find ways in the rhythms of your own day-to-day work as an educator or school administrator to be in the moments, and to be transformed through the people and experiences that God provides you. Take advantage of those moments, reflect on them, share them with others, and enjoy the journey!
Elisabeth Moreau lives north of Boston, Massachusetts. She taught middle and high school Bible classes at Bradford Christian Academy from 2004–2015, and currently works in residence life at Eastern Nazarene College. In the summers she can be found leading kayak tours of nearby tidal river and marshes.