Travels In Sacred Places

Hard Travel to Sacred Places is the record of a personal odyssey through Southeast Asia, an external and internal journey through grief and the painful realities of a decadent age. Wurlitzer—novelist, screenwriter, and Buddhist practitioner—travels with his wife, photographer Lynn Davis, on a photo assignment to the sacred sites of Thailand, Burma, and Cambodia. Heavy Westernization, sex clubs, aging hippies and expatriates, and political dissidents provide a vivid contrast to the peace that Wurlitzer and Davis seek, still reeling from the death of their son in a car accident. As Davis with her camera searches for a thread of meaning among the artifacts and relics of a more enlightened age, Wurlitzer grasps at the wisdom of the Buddhist teachings in an effort to assuage his grief. His journal chronicles the survival of age-old truths in a world gone mad.

A travel guide to the world's most sacred locales offers travel tips and detailed maps to the Great Pyramid, Easter Island, the Himalayas, Ayers Rock, Chaco Canyon, Jericho, Delphi, Stonehenge, and Mayan ruins, among other sites of spiritual importance. Original.

The Christian life is a journey not just spiritually but also physically and experientially. As global travel becomes more accessible, new opportunities arise for these journeys to be spiritually significant. You may find yourself in historic places where Christian faith shaped entire civilizations. And you may realize that you too are being changed—from a tourist to a pilgrim. Christian George recovers the ancient spiritual practice of pilgrimage, in which travel to sacred sites leads to the transformation of the soul. In engaging narratives of his worldwide voyages, he follows in the footsteps of spiritual pilgrims from across the centuries, from Luther in Wartburg to Spurgeon in England. His travels to landmark places from Iona to Assisi give him not only a better understanding of his Christian heritage, but also of God's inner work in pilgrims throughout history and today. Come with Christian as he breaks bread with Benedictines in Ireland and worships with the Taizé community in France. Experience the transforming power of spiritual pilgrimage. And discover what it means to be a pilgrim as you follow God wherever he leads.

All roads lead to enlightenment—but the choice of which to travel is yours. From Sedona to Lourdes to Mecca, there are certain divinely blessed places that can inspire you to renew your sense of wonder, revitalize your spirit, and restore your faith. In this book, you'll explore the most illuminating sites around the world, including: The Taj Mahal in India, a stunning palace designed for mourning a lost love—or celebrating a new one Carmel Mission in California, a place of veneration and enlightenment The Shrine of Rumi in Turkey, a monument to the power of passion and poetry The Wailing Wall in Israel, where it is believed you have God's ear when you visit Mount Olympus in Greece, a snow-capped peak that offers serenity and strength With special prayers, meditations, and devotions for each sacred site, this guide is the perfect companion if you are seeking a true journey of the soul.

Combining current trends, academic theories, and historical insights, this travel guide brings both lesser-known and famous European spiritual locales into perspective by explaining the significance of each sacred site. The cultural relevance, history, and spirituality of each site—including Stonehenge, the Acropolis, Mont Saint Michel, Pompeii, and Saint Peter’s Basilica—are explained, creating a moving and artistic travel experience. Each destination—with selections spanning more than 15 countries throughout Europe—is accompanied by easy-to-follow maps and directions.

Why do they still come? Fourteen hundred years after a handful of Celtic monks withdrew to tiny islands in the sea, and almost a thousand years after the last of them disappeared, a steady streams of modern men and women make the difficult trek to these isolated places. Why? What did the ancient monks know that we have forgotten, or remember only dimly? What are we looking for when we journey to such sacred places? We are looking, among other things, for wisdom-for clues about how to live in a frantic, materialistic, care-worn world that is, in many ways, hostile to life. And we sense that those who lived here so long ago, though they have left very little behind, have something to teach us. In Search of Sacred Places: Looking for Wisdom on Celtic Holy Islands is the story of a reluctant pilgrimage, taken by a man with no great faith in sacred places. He is a man filled with modern questions and suspicions, who nonetheless returns home from these thin places with a better understanding of how to live. This book interweaves spiritual quest, travel, memoir, history, theological reflection, cultural analysis, and personal introspection-all conveyed in an engaging, probing, and honest voice. It is a book for those on the hunt for meaning who share the hope that God has sown it throughout this world-perhaps more thickly in certain sacred places.