"We have to explore how we can turn our next time away from home into a holiday and not just simply a vacation, that is, to 'make the day holy,' and not just 'empty' ourselves. We have to examine how we can expand and enrich our enjoyment of travel. We have to ponder how we can travel — for a few days, for a few weeks — with a sense of passion and wonder. We have to investigate how to satisfy our heart's longing for beauty, adventure, and intimacy. Finally, and most importantly, we have to see the sacred in our travels, thereby expanding our conscious vision of the world and transforming our lives in the process.

"Developing this pilgrim spirit, we can see profoundly, hear attentively, and feel intimately the rich experiences with the sacred in our hearts and souls. We exercise our imagination to perceive the entire world saturated with the magnificence and splendor of God.

"The very essence of travel is to be away from home and on the road, in strange places and among unfamiliar people. We may travel far away to Asia or Africa, surrounded by unfamiliar languages, customs, food, and sights. Then again, we may travel only to a nearby town and still feel ourselves in territory that is not home.

"Travel is about attitude and aspiration as much as about geography. What is at stake is not discovering distant countries and exotic habits, but making the move out of ordinary space and time. Walking on a nearby golf course, creatively remodelling the house, or spending a quiet evening knitting can be far more important for our spiritual health and life-renewal than journeying great distances. In fact, even something as innocent as reading a book about the spiritual experiences available to travelers can trigger those same experiences.

"A wise Zen monk told a pilgrim: 'You will travel long and you will travel hard. But do not travel far.' Twenty years later, the monk asked the pilgrim if he had found Shambala, that is, enlightenment. 'You were right,' said the pilgrim, 'It took me a lifetime to understand why I did not have to travel far. The land of enlightenment is not north or south but within us all the while.' "