Roger Housden, a founder of the Open Gate, a holistic workshop and conference program in England, is a modern-day pilgrim whose travels have taken him to sacred sites around the world. He defines a sacred journey as one that "sensitizes the individual to the deeper realities of his own being and of the world about him — if it brings together the inner and the outer worlds, the physical landscape serving as a mirror for the inner one." In this remarkable book, Housden tutors us in the ways to open heart, mind, body, and soul to the mysteries, enchantments, and rigors of pilgrimage.

While visiting Saint Catherine's monastery at the foot of Mt. Sinai, the author finds an ark of refuge apart from the rigors of the modern world. A pilgrimage to the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York City renews his interest in exploring the diverse expressions of spirit in an urban context. A trek through the Sahara Desert to visit the Little Brothers of Jesus brings Housden face-to-face with the limitations of ego. He is emptied even more on a trip down the Ganges, the sacred river in India. Housden is humbled by animals in East Africa and awed by the beauty of the Big Sur. On a journey to Konya in Turkey, where Rumi, the Sufi poet, teacher, and founder of a sect of Whirling Dervishes lived, the author reconnects with the spiritual practice of wonder.

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