Jesse's Pilgrimage Project

Jesse's Pilgrimage

Labyrinth Reflection 1

“The Buddha went on his way,

Modestly and deep in his thoughts,

His calm face was neither happy nor sad,

It seemed to smile quietly and inwardly.

With a hidden smile,

Quiet,

Calm,

Somewhat resembling a healthy child,

The Buddha walked, wore the robe

And placed his feet just as all of his monks did,

According to a precise rule.

But his face and his walk,

His quietly lowered glance

His quietly dangling hand

And even every finger of his quietly dangling hand expressed peace,

Expressed perfection,

Did not search,

Did not imitate,

Breathed softly in an unwithering calm, in an unwithering light,

An untouchable peace” (Hesse, Siddhartha)

Though I was not there to begin the construction of the labyrinth, I went to see the progress of the labyrinth and I was happy to see how it looked. The idea of the labyrinth connects to the ideas behind the course because both the making of and the walking of the labyrinth are pilgrimages that warrant reflection. I can see clear parallels between the labyrinth and Siddhartha. In Siddhartha, The Buddha is seen as a beacon of enlightenment, and one of his defining traits is that he “[does] not search.” Often times our minds can wander and race, but sometimes all of the thoughts in our minds can cloud true enlightened thought. Instead of looking outward for answers, we must look inward, just as the Buddha “[smiles] quietly and inwardly” or Siddhartha looks inwardly. The labyrinth is both physically and mentally a journey inward, both to the center of the labyrinth and to the center of one’s soul. It’s winding nature illustrates that the path of any pilgrimage is never a straight line. This further parallels Siddhartha because Siddhartha’s path to enlightenment winds and swerves all over until he finally learns from the river. He tries all kinds of approaches before he finds enlightenment.

Labyrinth Reflection 2

“With the first gray light he rose and left the boy sleeping and walked out to the road and squatted and studied the country to the south. Barren, silent, godless. He thought the month was October but he wasn’t sure. He hadn’t kept a calendar for years. They were moving south. There'd be no surviving another winter here.” (McCarthy, The Road)

The labyrinth helps me understand The Road more clearly because of the many parallels between the journey the man and his son must go on and the journey one must venture on to reach the center of the labyrinth. Like the labyrinth, there is one path down the road for the man and his son, and in The Road’s post-apocalyptic society, there is no way to survive without continuing to walk along the fixed path. The idea behind both the labyrinth and The Road is to keep moving in order to reach a place of peace, nourishment, or security. Though the labyrinth is certainly more meditative and introspective, both The Road and the labyrinth entail a physical journey that one must take in order to achieve some sort of inner journey.. The Road and the labyrinth also have important differences. For example, although both The Road and the labyrinth entail a physical journey, The Road is a glum journey simply to survive, whereas the labyrinth has positivity attached to it and serves as a meditative and self-searching experience. The labyrinth allows the walker’s thoughts to coalesce around one central focus, thereby preventing the mind from wandering too much. The Road does the same thing, but instead of simply walking, the central focus becomes surviving. Because the man is so focused on surviving, his mind could not be occupied with seemingly trivial thought such as what month it is. “He hadn’t kept a calendar for years.” Though I would hardly consider the man’s journey to be meditative, his journey does coalesce around one central focus: surviving. The labyrinth is a great symbol of pilgrimage and journey and it has helped me understand The Road more clearly.

Labyrinth Reflection 3

When walking the labyrinth at the Peace Awareness gardens I did not expect to have as profound an experience I did. When walking the labyrinth I expected to have a pleasant and calming experience. However, after walking out of the labyrinth I noticed that I had the same sensation as when I come out of meditation. I was refreshed, calm, and present. The benefit that I get out of meditation is that it allows me to focus on one singular thing and force the incessant chatter that goes on in my mind to be silenced for a brief time. I began my pilgrimage believing that meditation was the only way to achieve this silencing, but I found that walking the labyrinth offers a similar sensation of presentness and inner calmness. I saw my pilgrimage as a straight path: start meditating and get better at meditating until I become a more emotionally strong individual. However, the path to the center of a labyrinth is never a straight line. I ran into hard times that made it difficult for me to meditate at times, I learned the importance of pursuits such as music production in my life which provide similar benefits to meditation, and I still do not feel as though I am completely present all the time or completely emotionally strong. Perhaps I never will be. However, this course has taught me that it is okay and in fact normal to go off course when on a journey. For example, Siddhartha goes all the way from being an ascetic who renounces material possessions to a rich man ensconced in materialism before he finds enlightenment. My pilgrimage has not followed a straight line and this course has helped me learn that it is okay to veer off course as long as the mission stays the same. Every detour is part of the journey. Moving forward I want to not only continue meditating regularly, but also look for other activities such as walking the labyrinth or music production that give me a meditative experience. The pilgrimage towards strength, discipline, and positivity will continue.

Compilation of Previous Pilgrimage Journal Entries

Meditation reflection - November 15th 2016

Over the past couple of months, I’ve been meditating 5 to 10 minutes a day and it has been very beneficial for me. In the short term, it helps me become much more centered and present. Meditation makes me realize how much my brain is in sensory overload during my day. Meditation helps my brain calm down and focus in on what is important. Once I am done meditating, it become much easier to tune out external stimuli that I don’t care about and only focus on what matters, whether it be school work, music production, or just sitting back and enjoying the world. Often times after I meditate, I will just look around at the world for a few minutes because the colors and textures are so vibrant and vivid that it is such a great pleasure to look at. Additionally, I have returned to the UCLA website you gave me for the meditation about love. The guided meditation helps me focus my energy on being loving and cultivating love in my heart, and I have gotten a lot of benefit out of that one. I will come out of that meditation feeling so big-hearted and loving, and often times I will even reach out to those that I love just to tell them I love them. It’s a great feeling. I haven't been keeping a meditation journal, but I’m going to start. I’ve been keeping up with my regular journal and journaling every night, so I just need to every once in awhile reflect on my progression with my meditation, which will not be too hard. Meditation does have long-term benefits for me too. In addition to simply meditating, I’ve been working on being more mindful. Meditation helps with mindfulness because it allows me to center myself in the world and pay attention to what is happening around me. Mindfulness is about being present in each moment, and meditation absolutely helps me be more present on a day to day basis. I’m very happy with my pilgrimage’s progress and I look forward to continuing to meditate hopefully for the rest of my life.

Pilgrimage Class Reflection - November 19th 2016

This class I worked on creating a piece of music that is soothing and that can help me relax. My pilgrimage project is meditating for 5-10 minutes a day, but the whole point of the pilgrimage is a achieve a better mental state. Meditation soothes my mind, and I want to create a piece of music that does the same, so today I went into my music program, Ableton Live, and I tried to create something soothing. I’ve been experimenting with a lot of idea. The purpose of my music isn’t usually to soothe though, it is to convey emotion, and being that I am primarily a hip-hop and electronic producer, producing something soothing is a bit out of my comfort zone. Soothing doesn’t usually have hard-hitting drums so that is already very different from the pieces I normally make. I’ve very much enjoyed experimenting in this class though, and learning more about how I can achieve my goal of making a soothing piece of music. I look forward to continuing to work on it.

Mandala Reflection - December 6th 2016

On Friday, we drew mandala’s in class. I began by thinking about my pilgrimage project and attempting to portray the balance and state of calmness that I achieve through meditation. I began by drawing a single circle and filling it with small dots. I thought this was a good way to represent the core of the mandala. There is infinite potential for emotion and instability within me, represented by the countless little dots, but when they are all contained within a central space and put into perspective, that brings a state of balance and tranquility. As I drew more, I lost sight of that goal and just began to draw whatever came to my mind. I drew little lines around the circle and expanded those into designs that really have no meaning. I then started to get more geometric, using straight edges to draw shapes and coloring in small sections of them. There is no explanation for why I took this approach, except for that it came to me at the time and I went with it. I remember feeling particularly ambitious because I was listening to Travis Scott, my favorite rap artist, and it was making me feel like any idea that came into my head, I could execute it on the paper. Later, I started drawing dots in a semi-orderly pattern. The block of dots was to have 3 columns, and 3 dots per row. Then, if I chose to move the dots over, (I drew them row by row, not column by column) I had a rule that I would draw the very next column of dots in the same space. Again, there is no explanation for these drawings or this rule. I was just feeling it, so I went with it. I am really pleased with my results. I think my mandala looks really good, and I actually want to go back in the art room and work on it more.

Final Pilgrimage Reflection

Over the course of the semester I have learned a great deal about meditation and mental fitness. The most important thing I did this semester is improving my meditation. Through fairly consistent practice, I’ve learned to let go of my wandering thoughts through meditation and have developed a heightened sense of mindfulness in everyday life. Meditation has helped me become stronger mentally by allowing me to keep my emotions in perspective. I have also benefitted from guided meditation, which allows me to further control my mood and cultivate positivity.

I’ve also learned that one does not need to meditate in order to have a meditative experience. I’ve discovered that when I immerse myself in either music production or walking the Chartres Labyrinth, I am able to ignore frivolous thought and fixate on one central focus. This fixation allows me to come out of those activities with a refreshed mind.

The original mission of my pilgrimage was to simply develop stronger mental strength, health, discipline, and positivity, and although I have not always been consistent with meditating, I have been consistent with doing what I need to do to better myself in those areas. Meditation is a valuable avenue to improve my mental strength, discipline, and positivity, and I plan to continue practicing meditation in the future. However, meditation is not the only way, and I plan to look for other activities that give me a meditative experience as well. Overall, I am happy with my progress, but I am nowhere near done, and I will continue on my pilgrimage long after the class ends.