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Sinead O'Connor was once seen as a sacrilegious rebel, but her music and life were deeply infused with spiritual seeking

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/brenna-moore-1457909">Brenna Moore</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/fordham-university-1299">Fordham University</a> When news broke July 26, 2023, that the gifted Irish singer <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-66318626">Sinead O’Connor had died</a>, stories of her most famous performance circulated amid the grief and shock. Thirty-one years ago, after a haunting rendition of Bob Marley’s song “War,” O’Connor ripped up a photograph of Pope John Paul II on live television. “Fight the real enemy,” she said – a reference to <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-catholic-church-sex-abuse-crisis-4-essential-reads-169442">clerical sex abuse</a>. For months afterward, she was banned, <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/sinead-o-connor-booed-pope-bob-dylan-concert-1176338/">booed and mocked</a>, dismissed as a crazy rebel beyond the pale. Commemorations following her death, however, cast the protest in a very different light. Her “Saturday Night Live” performance is now seen as “invigorating,” <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/26/arts/music/sinead-oconnor-snl-pope.html">the New York Times’ pop critic wrote</a>, and “a call to arms for the dispossessed.” Attitudes toward Catholicism, sex and power are far different today than in 1992, whether in New York or O’Connor’s native Dublin. In many people’s eyes, the moral credibility of the Catholic Church around the world <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/245858/catholics-faith-clergy-shaken.aspx">has crumbled</a>, and trust in faith institutions of any sort is <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/1597/confidence-institutions.aspx">at an all-time low</a>. Sexual abuse, once discussed only in whispers, is now beginning to be talked about openly. I join the chorus of voices today who say O’Connor was decades ahead of her time. But leaving it just at that, we miss something profound about the complexity and depth of her religious imagination. Sinead O’Connor was arguably one of the most spiritually sensitive artists of our time. I am <a href="https://www.fordham.edu/academics/departments/theology/faculty/brenna-moore/">a scholar of Catholicism in the modern era</a> and have long been interested in those figures – the poets, artists, seekers – who wander <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/K/bo90478851.html">the margins of their religious tradition</a>. These men and women are dissatisfied with the mainstream centers of religious power but nonetheless compelled by something indelibly religious that feeds the wellsprings of their artistic imagination. Throughout her life, O’Connor defied religious labels, exploring multiple faiths. The exquisite freedom in her music cannot be disentangled from <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/arts-culture/2021/09/16/sinead-oconnor-rememberings-memoir-moore-241369">that something transcendent</a> that she was always after. <h2>‘Rescuing God from religion’</h2> Religion is often thought about as discreet traditions: institutions that someone is either inside or outside. But on the ground, it is rarely that simple. The Catholic Church had a strong hold on Irish society as O’Connor was growing up – a “theocracy,” she called it <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/sep/10/sinead-oconnor-pope-visit">in interviews</a> and <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/authors/126006/sinead-oconnor">her memoir, “Rememberings</a>” – and for many years she <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-oconnor/singer-sinead-oconnor-demands-pope-steps-down-idUSTRE5BA39Y20091211">called for more accountability</a> for the clerical abuse crisis. But she was also open in her love of other aspects of the faith, albeit often in unorthodox ways. She had a tattoo of Jesus on her chest and continued to critique the church while appearing on television with a priest’s collar. Ten years after her SNL performance, O'Connor took courses at a seminary in Dublin with a Catholic Dominican priest, Rev. Wilfred Harrington. Together, they read the prophets of the Hebrew Bible and the Psalms: sacred scriptures in which God’s voice comes through in darker, moodier, more human forms. Inspired by her teacher, she made the gorgeous album “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xncY5WP12BQ">Theology</a>,” dedicated to him. The album is a mix of some of her own songs inspired by the Hebrew Bible – like “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/wat,h?v=Kf24-rgyOeI">If You Had a Vineyard</a>,” inspired by the Book of Isaiah; and “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jh7s5BKphw8">Watcher of Men</a>,” which draws from the biblical story of Job – and other tracks that essentially are sung versions of her favorite Psalms. In <a href="https://wfuv.org/content/sinead-oconnor-words-and-music-2007">a 2007 interview</a> with Fordham University’s WFUV radio station, O'Connor said that she was hoping the album could show God to people when religion itself had blocked their access to God. It was a kind of “rescuing God from religion,” to “lift God out of religion.” Rather than preaching or writing, “music is the little way that I do that,” she said, adding, “I say that as someone who has a lot of love for religion.” <h2>Reading the prophets</h2> In doing so, she stood in the long line of the prophetic tradition itself. The great Jewish thinker <a href="https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/abraham-joshua-heschel-a-prophets-prophet/">Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel’s</a> book “<a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-prophets-abraham-j-heschel?variant=40970012721186">The Prophets</a>” begins with this sentence: “This book is about some of the most disturbing people who have ever lived.” Over and over, the Bible shows the prophets – the prophets who inspired “Theology” – mounting bracing assaults on hypocrisies and insincerities in their own religious communities, and not politely or calmly. To many horrified Catholics, O’Connor’s SNL appearance and her many other criticisms of the church were blasphemous – or, at best, just throwing stones from outside the church for attention. Other fans, however, saw it as prophetic condemnation. It was not just a critique of child abuse but of church officials’ professed compassion for children – sanctimonious pieties <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/nov/26/catholic-church-ireland-child-abuse">as they covered up the abuse</a>. In calling this out and so much more, O’Connor was often seen as disturbing: not just the photo-of-the-pope incident, but her androgyny, her shaved head, her openness around her own struggles with mental illness. But for many admirers, as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VLy1A4En4U">the documentary “Nothing Compares</a>” makes clear, all this showed that she was free, and like the prophets of old, unashamed and unafraid to provoke. <h2>Rasta to Islam</h2> At the same time, O’Connor’s religious imagination was so much more than a complex relationship with Catholicism. Religion around O’Connor was eclectic and intense. She was deeply influenced by <a href="https://theconversation.com/reggaes-sacred-roots-and-call-to-protest-injustice-99069">Rastafarian traditions</a> of Jamaica, <a href="https://wfuv.org/content/sinead-oconnor-words-and-music-2007">which she described</a> as “an anti-religious but massively pro-God spiritual movement.” She considered Sam Cooke’s early album with the Soul Stirrers the best gospel album ever made. She counted among her spiritual heroes Muhammad Ali – and <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-45987127">converted to Islam in 2018</a>, changing her name to Shuhada’ Sadaqat. Yet O’Connor’s vision was not fragmented, as if she were constantly chasing after bits and pieces. The miracle of Sinead O’Connor is that it all coheres, somehow, in the words of an artist who refuses to lie, to hide or not say what she thinks. When asked about spirituality, O’Connor once said that she preferred to sing about it, not talk about it – as she does in so many songs, from <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkP-0rnr_Gw">her luminous singing of the antiphon</a>, a Marian hymn sung at Easter services, to her Rasta-inspired album, “<a href="https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/5945-throw-down-your-arms/">Throw Down Your Arms</a>.” In “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haYbyQIEgQk">Something Beautiful</a>,” a track from the “Theology” album, O’Connor speaks both to God and the listener: “I wanna make/ Something beautiful/ For you and from you/ To show you/ I adore you.” Indeed she did. To be moved by her art is to sense a transcendence, a peek into radiance.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210540/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/brenna-moore-1457909">Brenna Moore</a>, Professor of Theology, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/fordham-university-1299">Fordham University</a> Image credits: Getty Images This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/sinead-oconnor-was-once-seen-as-a-sacrilegious-rebel-but-her-music-and-life-were-deeply-infused-with-spiritual-seeking-210540">original article</a>.

Music

Five spiritual tourism destinations and how to experience them

The pandemic has led some people to take a greater interest in <a href="https://www.pewforum.org/2021/01/27/more-americans-than-people-in-other-advanced-economies-say-covid-19-has-strengthened-religious-faith/">religion</a> and <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-55419894">spirituality</a>. One of the many definitions of the “spirit” is that it is our inner, <a href="https://www.dictionary.com/browse/spirit">nonphysical world</a>, including both our conscious and subconscious minds. Our spiritual self <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S105381001830521X">interprets sensory inputs from our outer world</a> and <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2018/10/hallucinations-hearing-voices-reality-debate/571819/">creates our experience of reality</a>. We usually associate spirituality with practices such as worship, meditation and yoga. But for many, travelling can be highly spiritual, as it involves being immersed in an experience different from our normal existence. It is also a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14616688.2020.1725618">“liminal experience”</a> – we are suspended in an unknown setting which opens us to new possibilities. <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/11/4/177">Spiritual tourism</a>, including <a href="https://medium.com/tourism-geographic/three-ways-to-ensure-wellness-tourism-provides-a-post-pandemic-opportunity-for-the-travel-c997d7b842f7">wellness tourism</a>, was a rising global trend before the pandemic. The book and Hollywood film <a href="http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2011931,00.html">Eat Pray Love</a>, for example, drew tourists to India and Bali in Indonesia, seeking spiritual solutions to the challenges of modern life. As the pandemic eases and the world gradually returns to international travel, we expect places known for their spiritual energy and significance will become popular destinations. Spiritual tourism is <a href="https://medium.com/new-earth-consciousness/explore-your-world-explore-your-mind-b955665b17f8?sk=ae0b2423a08c57279f8391d7baaa90a4">as much about inner, self-reflexive experiences</a> as outer destination experiences. Here are five places you can visit with great spiritual significance. <h2>1. The Old City of Jerusalem, Israel</h2> The <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/148">Old City of Jerusalem</a> is often listed among the top spiritual places in the world. It contains some of the holiest sites for the Abrahamic religions, including the Western Wall for Judaism, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for Christianity, and the Dome of the Rock for Islam. But even if you’re not a follower of these religions, the sounds, smells, narrow cobblestone footpaths, ancient architecture, and multicultural people, shops and foods open your mind. Some even succumb to <a href="https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-jerusalem-syndrome">Jerusalem syndrome</a>, perhaps remembering a spiritual connection to the city from a past life. But while we can go to the most religious places in the world, they will not be spiritual until we turn inward. For tourists, there are several non-intrusive ways to turn inwards while maintaining respect for the destination. These include setting aside time for contemplation, maintaining a sense of <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/epub/10.1080/14616688.2021.2021978?needAccess=true">mindfulness</a> and openness to new experiences, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-walking-meditation-175989">silent walking</a> and <a href="https://medium.com/new-earth-consciousness/meditation-explainer-the-what-why-how-of-meditating-6bf6e934a982?sk=888fb69504e401a14495fe8717b5bb87">other forms of quiet meditation</a> and prayer. <h2>2. The Ghats of Varanasi, India</h2> Varanasi is the oldest and holiest city in India. It was already over 1,400 years old when the Buddha gave his first sermon near here in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gautama_Buddha#cite_note-dating-12">around 400BC</a>. The city has more than 3,000 Hindu and over 1,300 Muslim holy sites, along with Buddhist, Jain, Sikh and Christian spiritual places. But Varanasi is most famous for <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/6526/">the “ghats” along the Ganges River</a>. Ghats are the over 80 sets of steps leading into the river from Hindu temples, shrines, and palaces. Bathing ghats are where devotees cleanse themselves of karma to be free of the cycle of incarnations. There are also cremation ghats. Spirituality permeates the narrow streets of temples, bazaars and artisans. <h2>3. Luang Prabang, Laos</h2> <a href="https://d.docs.live.net/2f918da4f5876012/Desktop/A%20Trip%20to%20Laos%20for%20Spiritual%20Healing%20and%20Food%20Like%20No%20Other%20Place%20-%20Bloomberg">Luang Prabang</a> is the peaceful, laid-back, former capital of the historic kingdom of the same name. With <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/479/multiple=1&unique_number=1954">33 Buddhist temples and shrines</a>, it embodies the Buddha’s teaching that our true essence is the silence within. The city is quiet, relaxing, and surrounded by the Mekong River with mountains and waterfalls nearby. Spirituality is everywhere, from exploring and contemplating temples and appreciating the daily rituals of monks and nuns, to taking long walks along the river and in the surrounding hills, and interacting with the people and culture. <h2>4. The Hopi Mesas, Arizona, USA</h2> <a href="https://www.legendsofamerica.com/na-hopi/">The Hopi Native Americans</a> are among the most traditional cultures in the US today, with Old Oraibi village being the country’s oldest continuously occupied settlement. They are “settled agriculturalists”, living in villages atop mesas (flat-topped hills) and farming the lands below. <a href="https://hopitribeblog.weebly.com/religion--tradition.html">Their religion is secret</a>, but they announce <a href="https://www.kachinahouse.com/hopi-calendar">traditional social and spiritual dances</a> to the public about a week before they are held. Visitors are always welcome to watch the dances or wander the villages to see and buy from artisans. Photography or sketching are not allowed for spiritual reasons. The Hopi believe their religion maintains the spiritual stability of the entire planet. You get a sense of this as you step back into an infinite time of quiet solitude and meditate on the open vistas of the Hopi Mesas. Many are so taken that they become “<a href="https://leowbanks.com/journalism/bahana-humor-on-the-hopi-reservation/">wannabe Hopis</a>”, though outsiders are discouraged as permanent residents. <h2>5. The Camino de Santiago, Spain</h2> <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/669">The Camino de Santiago</a> is an ancient pilgrimage route to the cathedral in Santiago, to worship the remains of St James, who brought Christianity to Spain. The journey can be long (several weeks) or short (several days) and can start in Spain, Portugal, or France. The most popular path is 780km long, starting from Saint Jean Pied de Port, France, to Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Although a religious tradition within Spain, the pilgrimage route attracts many spiritual tourists from elsewhere. As with most <a href="https://medium.com/tourism-geographic/why-you-might-want-to-consider-a-pilgrimage-for-your-next-holiday-or-day-trip-73911715222d">pilgrimage treks</a>, the journey is more important than the destination. For some it is meditative, bringing psychological <a href="https://brill.com/view/book/edcoll/9789004381223/BP000009.xml">wellbeing</a>. For others, it offers space to reflect on <a href="https://arrow.tudublin.ie/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1388&context=ijrtp">personal challenges</a> (such as a relationship breakup or job loss). You can enjoy walking alone, but there is also a strong sense of community among like-minded pilgrims from around the world sharing hostel accommodations and meals. Image credits: Getty Images This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/five-spiritual-tourism-destinations-and-how-to-experience-them-178372" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>.

Travel Tips

British Museum unveils female spiritual beings exhibit

A unique exhibition is set to open at the British Museum later this year that celebrates how femininity has been perceived across the globe through history. The exhibit, titled Feminine power: the divine to the demonic, is the first of its kind to be showcased in the British museum. The figures on display range from a Hindu goddess considered the master of death, to a magical Greek enchantress, as the exhibit explores women in both world belief and mythological traditions. The exhibition includes representations of Lilieth, a character from Jewish mythology thought to be the first wife of Adam and later the consort of Satan, as well as Guanyin, the Chinese goddess of mercy. The idea behind the exhibit is to bring together ancient sculptures, sacred artefacts and contemporary art from six continents to explore how femininity has been portrayed, and how it influenced the way we view women and their power today. For the first time, the British Museum has invited special guest contributors to respond to the themes in the exhibition, sharing their personal and professional viewpoints. The special guests include doctors, professors, activists, authors, lawyers and former members of the British Army, who will share their own stories of feminism, and how they have fought for the rights of women. Muriel Gray, Deputy Chair of Trustees of the British Museum, said, “The Citi exhibition Feminine power: the divine to the demonic is brimming with magic, wisdom, fury and passion.” “I am very proud that through the breadth and depth of the British Museum's collection, alongside special loans, we can tell such powerful and universal stories of faith and femininity from the most ancient cultures to living traditions around the world. Following the display at the British Museum, the exhibition will be seen internationally, starting at the National Museum of Australia in Canberra. Image credits: The Trustees of the British Museum

Art

How to keep a gratitude journal

The benefits of gratitude Maybe you’ve heard about the potential benefits of practising gratitude or keeping a gratitude journal. You may have even been advised to keep a gratitude journal by a doctor, family, or friends.But are there any real benefits from keeping a gratitude journal? And how exactly does gratitude journaling work?Experts say there’s no wrong way to do gratitude exercises like keeping a gratitude journal, unless of course you’re focusing on negative things or things that can encourage shameful feelings.Here’s what the experts want you to know about why and how to keep a gratitude journal.What is a gratitude journal?According to experts, a gratitude journal is typically a journal or notepad where you jot down things for which you are grateful.This doesn’t need to be a notepad or journal, though; it can also include listing things for which you are grateful aloud or in your mind. Some smartphone apps even allow you to text or digitally enter things you are grateful for.“You can keep a gratitude journal on your phone, you could do it in a notebook, you could even just kind of take time to really think about those things,” says Laurie Santos, PhD, a professor of psychology.“All of these types of forms of engaging with a gratitude journal can really improve your wellbeing.”What does research show about the effects of gratitude journaling?Experts say the evidence is overwhelming: Keeping a gratitude journal is good for your health and overall well-being.“There’s lots and lots of studies basically suggesting that gratitude improves wellbeing,” Dr Santos says.“There’s evidence, for example, that people who are more grateful experience more benefits in terms of their self-regulation, they’re more likely to eat healthier, they’re more likely to save more for retirement,” she explains. “And there’s even evidence that people sleep better when they’re feeling more grateful.”Jane Wilson, PhD, says there are even more benefits of keeping a gratitude journal.“People who keep a gratitude journal experience more positive emotions such as love, joy, contentment, improved social connections, increased sense of inner peace, improved exercise and deepened sense of focus in learning,” Dr Wilson explains.“Keeping a gratitude journal strengthens one’s gratitude muscle,” she adds. “By strengthening one’s gratitude muscle, people will find they more quickly notice good things in life, and they’re better able to manage future stressful situations.”What is gratitude?Dr Simon-Thomas says the most simple way to make a gratitude diary entry, very generally, is to list sources of goodness that you enjoy in your life that you haven’t had to work toward or earn.“It can be as simple as running water that is drinkable from a tap, or can be really complex and detailed, like the role that a mentor in your life has played in advancing your professional career or by introducing you to a topic or a community that has been instrumental,” she explains.She says examples of this include gratitude for things many people take for granted, such as democracy, freedom, access to education and health care. “Those are really important kinds of gratitude,” she says, “and they do shift us toward a more optimistic view in the world.”Dr Wilson says she suggests beginning by pausing to reflect upon your day or week, taking a moment to savour a few blessings in your life, and then jotting the things you noticed or think of.How often should you write in a gratitude journal?Experts say there’s no hard and fast rule about how frequently to make entries in a gratitude journal to reap the benefits.Dr Simon-Thomas says there are some general patterns that seem to pop up like the suggestion to write three times a day, she adds, but that won’t work for everyone.If you’re more anxious person, maybe for you the best schedule for gratitude journaling is twice a day for two weeks. For some people who lean toward a more open-minded and flexible emotional demeanour, she says journaling once every other day for four weeks may be the most impactful.Some research suggests the ideal frequency to write in a gratitude journal seems to be around one to three entries per week for at least two weeks. Experts say this is likely because it can become easier to become numb to sources of goodness around us if we track it every day.How much should you write in a journal?According to the experts, any amount of expression or embracing of gratitude, including writing it down in a journal, can be beneficial. But most also agree that the more specific and in-depth an entry is, the more impact it tends to have.Dr Simon-Thomas says some people find it helpful to go into a lot of detail as to why they are grateful for something or how it made them feel. Some experts also advocate for the benefit of making extended entries that can be shared with others.“The most impactful gratitude practice is writing a gratitude letter to someone, around 300 to 500 words, and then reading it aloud to that person,” Dr Wilson says.How long do you need to keep a gratitude journal to reap the benefits?The jury is still out on exactly how long you need to keep a gratitude journal to reap the benefits.“There’s evidence, for example, that simply scribbling down a few things that you’re grateful for every day can significantly improve your wellbeing in as little as two weeks,” Dr Santos According to some experts, about 15 days is the period at which people start experiencing long-term benefits from gratitude journaling. But Dr Simon-Thomas says there are a lot of different statements out there about the relative period of time required, adding that some studies suggest just experiencing 30 to 60 seconds of gratitude, writing or reflection, can change how someone acts in the next moment, and in the next couple hours.Some prompts to kick-start your gratitude journal:The experts say some people have no issue coming up with things they are grateful for, but this isn’t always an easy process for everyone. For some people, even trying to think of things they are grateful for, or not being able to come up with any, can be overwhelming and make you feel hopeless.If you’re having trouble thinking of entries to make in a gratitude journal, experts advise using basic prompts that help you get started in the process, although there is no perfect prompt for everyone or every situation. Some prompts may seem well-suited for a certain person or situation, but others may make someone feel worse, so choose what works for you.Examples of good prompts for gratitude journal entries include:<ul style="border: 0px;font-family: Raleway, sans-serif, Arial;font-size: 16px;margin: 0px 0px 15px 20px;padding: 0px;vertical-align: baseline;color: #444444;background-color: #ffffff"><li style="border: 0px;font-family: inherit;font-style: inherit;font-weight: inherit;margin: 0px;padding: 0px;vertical-align: baseline">I am grateful for a natural resource (water, food, clean air, sunlight).</li><li style="border: 0px;font-family: inherit;font-style: inherit;font-weight: inherit;margin: 0px;padding: 0px;vertical-align: baseline">I am grateful for a component of the natural world (wildlife, mountains, bodies of water).</li><li style="border: 0px;font-family: inherit;font-style: inherit;font-weight: inherit;margin: 0px;padding: 0px;vertical-align: baseline">I am grateful for modern comforts (running water, toilets, indoor heat, electricity, cars, airplanes, trains, grocery stores).</li><li style="border: 0px;font-family: inherit;font-style: inherit;font-weight: inherit;margin: 0px;padding: 0px;vertical-align: baseline">I am grateful for institutions or services (hospitals and health care, education centres and education, emergency services like firefighters and natural disaster response services).</li><li style="border: 0px;font-family: inherit;font-style: inherit;font-weight: inherit;margin: 0px;padding: 0px;vertical-align: baseline">I am grateful for a leisure activity (writing, reading, watching TV or movies).</li><li style="border: 0px;font-family: inherit;font-style: inherit;font-weight: inherit;margin: 0px;padding: 0px;vertical-align: baseline">I am grateful my body is capable of … (walking, exercising, maintaining balance and posture, recovering from illness).</li><li style="border: 0px;font-family: inherit;font-style: inherit;font-weight: inherit;margin: 0px;padding: 0px;vertical-align: baseline">I am grateful my brain is capable of … (thinking, being intelligent, being curious, having an imagination, learning new things, talking, coordinating body movement, remembering things and feelings).</li><li style="border: 0px;font-family: inherit;font-style: inherit;font-weight: inherit;margin: 0px;padding: 0px;vertical-align: baseline">I am grateful for a stress-reducing activity (meditation, yoga, mindfulness, talking with friends and family).</li><li style="border: 0px;font-family: inherit;font-style: inherit;font-weight: inherit;margin: 0px;padding: 0px;vertical-align: baseline">I am grateful I am alive now because … (modern amenities and comforts, scientific breakthroughs or advancements, ability to travel around the world, ability to connect with others easier).</li><li style="border: 0px;font-family: inherit;font-style: inherit;font-weight: inherit;margin: 0px;padding: 0px;vertical-align: baseline">I am grateful for basic rights such as … (freedom, civil liberties, the right to receive education, expression of thought, the right to vote).</li><li style="border: 0px;font-family: inherit;font-style: inherit;font-weight: inherit;margin: 0px;padding: 0px;vertical-align: baseline">I am grateful for something that someone did to help me or make me feel more secure.</li><li style="border: 0px;font-family: inherit;font-style: inherit;font-weight: inherit;margin: 0px;padding: 0px;vertical-align: baseline">I am grateful for components of my work (respect of co-workers or bosses, benefits, positive impact of work on others or the environment, feelings of fulfillment or engagement).</li><li style="border: 0px;font-family: inherit;font-style: inherit;font-weight: inherit;margin: 0px;padding: 0px;vertical-align: baseline">I am grateful to have certain people in my life.</li><li style="border: 0px;font-family: inherit;font-style: inherit;font-weight: inherit;margin: 0px;padding: 0px;vertical-align: baseline">I am grateful for my pet because …</li><li style="border: 0px;font-family: inherit;font-style: inherit;font-weight: inherit;margin: 0px;padding: 0px;vertical-align: baseline">I am grateful for a certain experience.</li><li style="border: 0px;font-family: inherit;font-style: inherit;font-weight: inherit;margin: 0px;padding: 0px;vertical-align: baseline">I am grateful that something happened to me today.</li></ul>Additional tips to keeping a gratitude journal:<ul style="border: 0px;font-family: Raleway, sans-serif, Arial;font-size: 16px;margin: 0px 0px 15px 20px;padding: 0px;vertical-align: baseline;color: #444444;background-color: #ffffff"><li style="border: 0px;font-family: inherit;font-style: inherit;font-weight: inherit;margin: 0px;padding: 0px;vertical-align: baseline">Go for depth of entries versus quantity. It’s generally better to go into as much detail as possible about why you are grateful for something than generating a long, less detailed list.</li><li style="border: 0px;font-family: inherit;font-style: inherit;font-weight: inherit;margin: 0px;padding: 0px;vertical-align: baseline">Try to not simply go through the motions. Keeping a gratitude journal is more effective if you first commit, and stay committed to, being more grateful, happy, or optimistic. A gratitude journal entry should not be viewed as a to-do list or something you have to do against your will.</li><li style="border: 0px;font-family: inherit;font-style: inherit;font-weight: inherit;margin: 0px;padding: 0px;vertical-align: baseline">Don’t try to make any entry if you really aren’t ready or in a good space. Pushing yourself to simply make entries can actually make you feel worse or overwhelmed and may lead to entries that are negative or shaming.</li><li style="border: 0px;font-family: inherit;font-style: inherit;font-weight: inherit;margin: 0px;padding: 0px;vertical-align: baseline">Don’t overdo it. Many people think you have to write in a gratitude journal every day to see positive effects. But writing once or twice per week long-term may be more beneficial than daily journaling.</li><li style="border: 0px;font-family: inherit;font-style: inherit;font-weight: inherit;margin: 0px;padding: 0px;vertical-align: baseline">Think about subtractions, not only additions. One way to stimulate feelings of gratitude is to think about how your life would be affected without certain things, such as modern comforts, friends and family, meaningful work, etc. This approach can be especially effective if someone is having a hard time coming up with something they’re grateful for.</li><li style="border: 0px;font-family: inherit;font-style: inherit;font-weight: inherit;margin: 0px;padding: 0px;vertical-align: baseline">Savour surprises. Events that are surprising or unexpected often stimulate stronger feelings of gratitude.</li><li style="border: 0px;font-family: inherit;font-style: inherit;font-weight: inherit;margin: 0px;padding: 0px;vertical-align: baseline">Get personal with your entries. Recording or thinking about people you are grateful for often is more impactful than thinking about things you’re grateful for.</li><li style="border: 0px;font-family: inherit;font-style: inherit;font-weight: inherit;margin: 0px;padding: 0px;vertical-align: baseline">Think of things you’re grateful for as gifts. Thinking of things we are grateful for as gifts helps prevent many people from overlooking them or taking them for granted.</li></ul>This article originally appeared on <a href="https://www.readersdigest.com.au/healthsmart/conditions/mental-health/how-to-keep-a-gratitude-journal-with-16-prompts-to-help-you-get-started?pages=1">Readers Digest</a>.

Mind

The monks walking Japan’s mountains

In the ancient forests of Dewa Sanzan in Yamagata Prefecture, Japanese mountain worshippers, called Yamabushi, have been walking the mountainous paths for 1400 years. Though it is an enjoyable place to hike, the monks are walking in pursuit of spiritual rebirth. Yamagato lies in the northernmost region of Japan’s Honshu island, and is an isolated, mountainous region prone to heavy snowfall. Mount Haguro, Mount Gassan, and Mount Yudono of Dewa Sanzan - literally “the Three Mountains of Dewa Province” - have been deemed sacred since 593 A.D., when Prince Hachiko fled to Mount Haguro following the assassination of his father, Emperor Sushun. The prince was told the mountain would be where he would encounter Kannon, the Goddess of Mercy, so he built shrines on each peak to keep the mountain gods there and ensure the region would experience peace and prosperity. The mountains were established as a centre for Shugendo, a Japanese form of worship dating back to when the mountains were considered deities. Eventually Shugendo would incorporate elements of Shinto, Buddhism, and Taoism and form the religion of the Yamabushi. “Historically, the Yamabushi lived on the higher mountains of Japan. They would years on end in the mountains,” explained Timm Bunting, a Yamabushido Project Leader and Yamabushi Master Assistant. “For example, the Yamabushi who self-mummified to become Sokushinbutsu (Living Buddha) had to spend at least 1,000 days in the mountains,” he said. This self-mummification process required the Yamabushi to fast for an extended period, and was outlawed more than 100 years ago. Today, the 6000 Yamabushi still in Japan believe Shugendo’s training in the harsh environment of the mountains can bring enlightenment. To become a certified Yamabushi, a week-long Akinome Autumn Peak Ritual must be completed. Though its exact nature is secret, the ritual is known to include meditation under a waterfall, nightwalking, and visiting places where the gods live on the mountains and praying. This immersion in the mountains is thought to help the Yamabushi become one with the mountain’s spirit and allow them re-emerge enlightened. “In walking we are born again. We rejuvenate our life,” said Master Yoshino, a 13th-generation Yamabushi priest and head of the Haguro Yamabushi. A growing number of people around Japan and the world have rediscovered Dewa Sanzan’s healing energy, and thousands have taken part in Yamabushi training offered in both Japanese and English. During the one-day, two-day, or four-day course, participants can only say one word, “uketamou” (I accept), in response to instructions. Phones, watches, brushing teeth, shaving, reading, and writing are also prohibited to help participants partake in self-discovery and mindfulness. Maiko Ito, a Yamabushido Project Leader, said: “We want people to face themselves, to look at the feet they are standing on, and to feel a connection with nature, society, and the world.” Images: The Dewa Sanzan / Instagram

International Travel

Backyard pilgrimages become the way to a spiritual journey thanks to COVID

Many major religious pilgrimages have been canceled or curtailed in an effort to contain the spread of COVID-19. These have included the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/23/world/middleeast/hajj-pilgrimage-canceled.html">Hajj</a>, a religious milestone for Muslims the world over; the Hindu pilgrimage, known as the <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-india/india-cancels-historic-hindu-pilgrimage-as-coronavirus-cases-mount-idUSKCN24N14P">Amarnath Yatra</a> high in the mountains of Kashmir; and <a href="https://www.orderofmalta.int/2020/03/12/coronavirus-cancelled-the-62nd-pilgrimage-to-lourdes-and-all-international-conferences/">pilgrimages to Lourdes</a> in France. Pilgrims have faced travel delays and cancellations for centuries. Reasons ranged from financial hardship and agricultural responsibilities to what is now all too familiar to modern-day pilgrims – plague or ill health. Then, as now, one strategy has been to bring the pilgrimage home or into the religious community. Journey of a thousand miles Pilgrimage can be an interior or outward journey and while <a href="https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/003043429">individual motivations may vary</a>, it can be an act of religious devotion or a way to seek closeness with the divine. Through the centuries and across cultures, those who longed to go on a sacred journey would find <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1594960?seq=1">alternative ways to do so</a>. Reading travel narratives, tracing a map with the finger or eye, or <a href="https://www.britishmuseumshoponline.org/matter-of-faith-an-interdisciplinary-study-of-relics-and-relic-veneration-in-the-medieval-period.html">holding a souvenir</a> brought back from a sacred site helped facilitate a real sense of travel for the homebound pilgrim. Through these visual or material aids, people felt as though they, too, were having a pilgrimage experience, and even connecting with others. One such example is the story of the Dominican friar Felix Fabri, who was known for recording his own pilgrimages in various formats, some geared toward the laity and some for his brothers. Fabri was approached in the 1490s by a group of cloistered nuns, meaning that they had professed vows to lead a contemplative life in the quietude of their community. They desired a <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/261870/pdf">devotional exercise</a> so they could receive the spiritual benefits of pilgrimage without having to break their promise of a life that was sheltered from the outside world. He produced “Die Sionpilger,” a virtual pilgrimage in the form of a day-to-day guidebook to Santiago de Compostela, Jerusalem and Rome. In these cities, pilgrims would encounter sites and scenes associated with many facets of their religion: shrines to honor Jesus and the saints, relics, great cathedrals and sacred landscapes associated with miraculous events and stories. Fabri’s guidebook sent the pilgrim on an imaginative journey of a thousand miles, without having to take a single step. DIY pilgrimages My current <a href="https://carepackagegtu.wordpress.com/2020/07/01/spotlight-barush/">book project</a> shows that from Lourdes to South Africa, from Jerusalem to England, from Ecuador to California, DIY pilgrimages are not just a medieval phenomenon. One such example is Phil Volker’s backyard Camino. Volker is a 72-year-old father and now grandfather, woodworker and veteran who mapped the Camino de Santiago onto his backyard in Vashon Island in the Pacific Northwest. Volker prays the rosary as he walks: for those who have been impacted by the pandemic, his family, his neighbors, the world. After a cancer diagnosis in 2013, a few things came together to inspire Volker to build a backyard Camino, including the film “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/07/movies/the-way-directed-by-emilio-estevez-review.html">The Way</a>,” a pocket-sized book of meditations, “<a href="https://annieoneil.com/">Everyday Camino With Annie</a>” by Annie O'Neil and <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/M/bo5974687.html">the story of Eratosthenes</a>, the Greek polymath from the second century B.C. who figured out a way to measure the circumference of the Earth using the Sun, a stick and a well. “For me, this guy was the grand godfather of do-it-yourselfers. How can someone pull off this kind of a caper with things at hand in his own backyard? It got me thinking, what else can come out of one’s backyard?,” he told me. Volker began walking a circuitous route around his 10-acre property on Vashon Island in the Pacific Northwest. It was a chance to exercise, which his doctors had encouraged, but also created a space to think and pray. Each lap around the property is just over a half-mile. Realizing that he was covering quite a distance, he found a map of the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route to track his progress, calculating that 909 laps would get him from St. Jean Pied-de-Port to the Cathedral of St. James. To date, Volker has completed three 500-mile Caminos without leaving his backyard. Thanks to a <a href="http://philscamino.com/">documentary film</a>, Volker’s <a href="http://caminoheads.com/">daily blog</a> and an <a href="https://www.nwcatholic.org/features/nw-stories/vashon-camino-pilgrimage">article</a> in the magazine “Northwest Catholic,” the backyard Camino has attracted many visitors, some simply curious but many who are seeking healing and solace. Pilgrimage and remembrance The story of Volker’s backyard Camino inspired Sara Postlethwaite, a sister of the Verbum Dei Missionary Fraternity, to map <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/travel/ireland/go-walk-st-kevin-s-way-co-wicklow-1.553577">St. Kevin’s Way</a>, a 19-mile pilgrimage route in County Wicklow, Ireland onto a series of daily 1.5-mile circuits in Daly City, California. The route rambles along roads and countryside from Hollywood to the ruins of the monastery that St. Kevin, a sixth-century abbot, had founded in Glendalough. Postlethwaite had intended to travel back to her native Ireland in the spring of 2020 to walk the route in person, but due to pandemic-related travel restrictions, she brought the pilgrimage to her home in Daly City. Every so often, Postlethwaite would check in on Google Maps to see where she was along the Irish route, pivoting the camera to see surrounding trees or, at one point, finding herself in the center of an old stone circle. Several joined Postlethwaite’s walk in solidarity, both in the U.S. and overseas. After each day’s walk, she paused at the shed at her community house, where she had drawn a to-scale version of the Market Cross at Glendalough. As Postlethwaite traced the intersecting knots, circles and image of the crucified Christ with her chalk, she reflected not just on the suffering caused by the pandemic but also about issues of racism, justice and privilege. In particular, she remembered <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/ahmaud-arbery-shooting-georgia.html">Ahmaud Arbery</a>, a Black jogger shot by two white men in a fatal confrontation in February 2020. She inscribed his name on the chalk cross. For Berkeley-based artist <a href="https://www.maggiepreston.com/">Maggie Preston</a>, a DIY chalk labyrinth on the street outside her house became a way to connect with her neighbors and her three-year-old son. There is a link here with the medieval strategies for bringing longer pilgrimages into the church or community. <a href="https://www.luc.edu/medieval/labyrinths/imaginary_pilgrimage.shtml">Scholars have suggested</a> that labyrinths may have been based on maps of Jerusalem, providing a scaled-down version of a much longer pilgrimage route. They started out by chalking in the places they could no longer go – the aquarium, the zoo, a train journey – and then created a simple labyrinth formed by a continuous path in seven half-circles. “A labyrinth gave us a greater destination, not just somewhere to imagine going, but a circuitous path to literally travel with our feet,” she told me. As neighbors discovered the labyrinth, it began to create a genuine sense of community akin to that which many seek to find when they embark on a much longer pilgrimage. ‘Relearn to pretend’ Volker’s cancer has progressed to stage IV and he celebrated his 100th chemo treatment back in 2017, but he is still walking and praying on a regular basis. He offers the following advice: “For folks starting their own backyard Camino I think that creating the myth is the most important consideration. Study maps, learn to pronounce the names of the towns, walk in the dust and the mud, be out there in the rain, drink their wine and eat their food, relearn to pretend.” Written by Kathryn Barush. Republished with permission of <a href="https://theconversation.com/as-coronavirus-curtails-travel-backyard-pilgrimages-become-the-way-to-a-spiritual-journey-143518">The Conversation.</a>

Travel Tips

Reflecting on my spirituality throughout the years

Margaret Cunningham, 61, is ‘semi-retired’ from her role in digital communications. She is a hobby writer who particularly enjoys writing articles with a reflective viewpoint. A lifelong passion of health and fitness means she is known in her community as ‘that lady who runs.' The In Hindsight series, of which this story is part of, is a collection of stories and moments that have impacted my life. They are snippets of insights and experiences. In the end, these stories will tell the tale of the dash (-) between the dates of my first and last breath. I want these stories to mean something – to let all who read them know the person behind the tags of daughter, sister, mother, wife and grandmother. My mother led an eventful life. Her eulogy certainly revealed a woman with an adventurous spirit, but as my brother delighted us all with the telling of her story I was struck by the thought that her life was just a list of events. The story of her soul, I don’t know. How she felt about her list of events. Her fears, her disappointments and regrets. Of being frightened, of loving, of lessons learned. What made her feel alive? I don’t know. She took this with her to the grave as did my father with his life. And this is at the heart of the In Hindsight series. Me is not my soul – I am more than a list of events. In every Hindsight story lies a chapter of my soul. So to be true to the Hindsight philosophy, I need to talk about the moment when I realised that everything I perceived God to be was a lie. Even now as I write the words, I feel its impact on my soul. From the moment of conception our lives are shaped by others. Within the womb and out of the womb, our first experiences of life are provided by parents or caregivers. In those early years it is adult decisions, opinions, customs, actions, and perceptions that shape what we believe and how we feel. As children we unconsciously accept the beliefs of those around us as the truth. No questions asked. So my parent’s authoritarian Catholicism was my first introduction to God. As far as I was concerned God was religion and religion was God. It’s interesting the impact this had on me. On the one hand, the moment I left home I never stepped back into the Catholic Church, yet God… well I just couldn’t get rid of God. In her book, Watching the Tree, author, Adeline Yen Mah says, “… change is the only constant. To that I will add also the universal human yearning for truth and wisdom.” I never quite know whether to use the term ‘fortunately’ or ‘unfortunately’, but the yearning for truth and wisdom seems to be the road I have travelled. Fitting God, or not fitting God, into our own worldview is a good way to keep God under control. We are good at shaping God to our expectations. God is who we want God to be. And so it was for me. From childhood to adulthood I constructed my own set of values and spiritual beliefs based on past and present life experiences. Naturally these evolved over time because real experiences do change us. The worldview of my youth and for much of adulthood was what I chose to believe. And as is the arrogance of youth, I believed that whatever my worldview was at the time, was the ultimate source of the truth. I still cringe at some of the zealous moments of my spiritual life as I moved through the ‘born again’ scene. As well-intentioned as they might have been, they had more to do with my own ignorance and ego than any display of tolerance, peace or truth. Most of all I feel cross with myself because I did not question. Nothing is what it seems – and this is exactly why we should question everything we think. Wasn’t it Albert Einstein who said, “The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.”? Kids are such natural questioners. They start off asking endless ‘why’ and ‘what if’ questions, but somewhere along the way fewer and fewer questions are asked. Why is that? Is it because as adults we think the constant ‘why’ and ‘what if’ questions tedious? Do we say ‘… go away I’m busy’ or do we laugh at a question because we think it silly? The fear of being knocked back, ridiculed or laughed at was very real for me as a child and this accompanied me into adulthood. I didn’t ask questions because I just believed everyone else’s truth. We all have a ‘spirituality’ whether we want one or not, even if we believe/don’t believe in God, or whether we are religious or not. Mention God, spirituality or religion and it conjures up images of churchy, holy, pious, New Age or some other airy fairy mystical perception. This was, and is not me, and if I could write this in shouty CAPS I would. I have led a fairly eventful life exploring most of what life has on offer, the good and the bad. God was just always part of my spirituality and I would modify God to suit my views, values and worldviews at the time. On this particular day I was about to literally dump God for good. God was not behaving as I wanted and acting as I believed God should. Why did God not seem to be answering my prayers? Why did God not feed the starving? Injustice. Wars. Greed. Power. Rape, Poverty, Disease. Why were some babies born just to die? Six million Jews and minority groups massacred in the holocaust. Couldn’t you have stopped this God? Why? Why? Why? So many questions. It was then I became aware of another option. What if everything I believed and perceived God to be was a lie? And it was. So I let God go. For a while I felt utterly bereft. Bewildered and panicky at what was happening. It felt as though I had wasted 50 years of my life chasing God, of being conned by my mind. Letting God go left a huge void. But at the same time completely liberating. I read somewhere that if we continue to journey trying to make things fit into our own worldview then no one will benefit. I had designed God so I could control God. Throughout history, God has suffered a great injustice at the hands of those who claim to be the closest to God. No one person or religion has a monopoly on the truth. What did I replace God with? Oh, I didn’t replace God, no, I just let God go to be God. I have no intention of replacing God with another God. God just is, that’s all. What remains though is room. Plenty of room for God to be God. What I have noticed is how my attitudes towards others have changed. The people I meet and their life experiences have become incredibly precious. Love, peace and tolerance take on new dimensions when you let God go to be God. Nothing is what it seems. Maybe what you believe right now is the truth and you have the answers. If that’s the case, then don’t be afraid of to ask yourself the question. What if everything I perceive, or don’t perceive, God to be is a lie? It may well be that you end up right back where you are now. But it’s a wonderful, exhilarating, never-ending question of what, and who God is, or is not, to explore. Read more from Margaret’s In Hindsight series here: <a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/health/mind/2016/12/margaret-cunningham-on-fear/">Don’t let fear stop you from your goals</a> <a href="https://www.oversixty.co.nz/health/mind/2017/01/margaret-cunningham-on-time-to-do-nothing/%20">In praise of doing nothing</a> <a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/lifestyle/relationships/2016/11/margaret-cunningham-on-what-makes-a-marriage-last/">What really makes a marriage last</a>

Mind

A spiritual oasis in the outback

Setting out early, fully caffeinated in anticipation of the quiet and empty road before us, we skirt around the suburbs of Perth, get on the Great Northern Highway and leave the city behind. Bush land and small farms line the road, punctuated with the occasional turnoff to some isolated town. There is little to look at except the trucks trundling down to Perth, yet it's essential to remain attentive, keeping an eye out for kangaroos who are famous for jumping onto the road at the wrong moment. You can find some incredible things in the outback of Western Australia, and after about two hours of driving we come upon one: a Benedictine monastery. This is New Norcia, founded more than a century and a half ago as a mission and now one of the state's most unlikely tourist destinations. I grew up about 100 kilometres away, which, for this part of the world, means "nearby". Yet I have never actually visited. I'm back home for the summer and have my foreign boyfriend in tow, so it seems like the perfect time to play tourist. Rounding the final bend, with only one small sign to indicate we are almost there, we shoot straight through the town of New Norcia and out the other side. It takes only a couple of seconds. "Whoops, I guess that was it," I say, putting the car into reverse and pulling a U-turn. After finding a shady place to park, we stretch our stiff limbs and look around. The Moore River, its presence made visible by the belt of trees that follows it, curves away to the east. The enormous freight trucks we call "road trains" occasionally rumble along the highway, sending white cockatoos screeching to the safety of tall gum trees. Just beyond the town limits, old-fashioned plowing equipment silently rusts away with only a fly or two for audience. And proudly, weirdly, a collection of buildings in Spanish Colonial style, looking as though they have been transplanted from Mexico, rise up from the red dusty ground. Salvado’s Vision To Dom Rosendo Salvado, the Spanish Benedictine monk who arrived in these parts in 1846, this landscape must have looked like an extraordinary, alien world. After walking for several days with a handful of companions, carrying only what they and a team of bullocks could manage, Salvado came to this area because it was home to a large community of Aboriginals, whom he planned to convert. He named his monastery after the Italian town of Norcia, birthplace of St Benedict. Salvado died in 1900, but his vision continued, and the monastery operated several schools through much of the 20th century. The number of monks peaked in the late 19th century at 70 men; today New Norcia is home to just nine monks who are assisted by employees from nearby towns in managing the buildings and tourist facilities. Despite its remoteness, New Norcia is never short of visitors, especially on weekends. Those who seek it out are a varied bunch: motorcycle clubs enjoying the winding roads; corporate groups and schoolchildren staying in the former school dormitories; those seeking spiritual guidance from the monks; curious day-trippers like ourselves. Casual visitors are unlikely to run into the monks, who tend to keep to the monastery compound, but you can arrange to meet and share meals with them or take part in the daily chapel services. My boyfriend and I have set up a meeting with Father David Barry, a soft-spoken scholar who worked as a bricklayer and as a jackeroo - a cattle station worker - before joining the monastery in 1955. Dressed in pristine white robes that match his short hair and beard, Father David appears at once incongruous and utterly at home. Our conversation ranges from the practicalities of joining a monastery to a discussion about the birth of the Benedictine order to what life is like for him here. "It's above all a life of prayer," he says. "But you can't live a life only of prayer." He throws in a dry joke about a now extinct order of monks who believed all they had to do in life was pray, and mostly went to bed hungry. "If you want to eat, you have to work." Most Benedictine monasteries strive to be self-sufficient, and, despite their small number, the monks here have done a good job of commercialising their resources. Artisan bread, olive oil and wine containing ingredients grown on the town's land are all sold under the name New Norcia, although much of the production is now done off-site by third parties. Father David has devoted much of the past 15 years to research in the town's extensive archives, a treasure trove for historians and even more for the Aboriginal community. Under various government decrees, between the late 1800s and 1970s, thousands of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders were forcibly removed from their parents and raised in government or church-run institutions. As a result, many Aboriginal families know little about their ancestry. From the beginning of New Norcia's history, Salvado kept meticulous records including birth, death and marriage registers, which have helped Aboriginal people from the region piece together their histories. After our chat, the three of us walk along the dusty gravel road that hugs the side of the monastery, trying to stay under the shade of the cape lilac trees. Behind a gated entrance, the monastery is a kind of oasis, with native plants adding a splash of colour to the high, white walls. Father David stops, pointing out the glorious yellow of a cassia fistula, or golden shower plant. Native to the Indian subcontinent, it is a long way from home yet thrives in the tough Australian soil. A statue of Saint Benedict watches over us from the front of the monastery, and I try to imagine what he would have thought of New Norcia, rooted in a far-flung corner of a land he never even knew existed. Careful conversation We meet Father David again for lunch time at the refectory. As the only guests, we are invited to take the first servings from the buffet trolley. Plates are passed, red wine is poured and we all get chatting. Mentioning our home, Paris, provokes a lively discussion, and it dawns on me that several of the men around the table came to New Norcia after living varied "ordinary" lives. I'm fascinated by the tidbits of information I glean about them, but I police my questions because I've noticed something interesting about the way these men talk. The Benedictine order discourages idle chitchat, so even though conversation is open and friendly, every question is carefully posed, and responses are weighed. Indeed, we are lucky to be having conversation at all. If we had been visiting at any other time of the year, the meal would have been conducted in silence, broken only by the voice of the designated reader who recites from a work of non-fiction and takes his meal later. But this was the Christmas holiday break, with about half of the monastery residents away on vacation, so prayer schedules and duties are light and rules are relaxed. After lunch, we leave the calm monastery, crossing the highway that divides the town in two, and join the afternoon walking tour in the visitor's centre. Brushing away flies and taking great swigs from bottles of water, our small group of mostly "grey nomads" - retired Australians living out of camper vans - crisscrosses the town. Moving from site to site, we take in its history, observing the one remaining mission cottage, the chapel, the now empty Saint Gertrude's girls' college and Saint Ildephonsus boys' college - once thriving boarding schools for white Australian children - and the outside of the monastery itself. We take our way through the large Education Centre, a space used to host cultural workshops and outdoor activities for the visiting groups. I spot a pile of tools and branches stacked neatly on a small grassy field and learn that they are used to teach school groups how to build a traditional bush shelter. As we move inside, I'm impressed by the extensive and fascinating exhibition about the history of New Norcia and its relationship to the local Yuat people. The displays include local food, examples of tools and clothing, and are interspersed with extracts of Dom Salvado's diary and notes, written as he became more and more knowledgeable of their culture. He eventually became fluent in the language and customs of the Yuat, and he produced the only known dictionary of their language. Because last year marked the 200th anniversary of his birth, the character of Dom Salvado looms large over the town, and we seem to be catching the tail end of a number of events and exhibitions designed to commemorate it. At the end of the visit, I browse through the small gift shop and pick up the English translation of Salvado's memoirs, which will occupy me for weeks to come. Written in a spare yet engaging way, it is an adventure story told at a cracking pace, describing a Western Australia that is both familiar and foreign: a beautiful yet treacherous landscape untouched by Europeans and full of mystery. Last stop Before leaving town, we stop in the only building we hadn't visited yet: the New Norcia Hotel. Built in 1927 to accommodate the visiting parents of the boarding school students, it is grand and welcoming, with polished handrails and a wide, shady veranda, a relic of a bygone era. In the corner, a group of dusty characters recover from a hot day's work outside, and I'm pleased to see the Western Australian-made Swan Draught beer on tap. We order pints. There's a sign advertising wood-fired pizza, but that will have to wait until the next visit. We still have a long drive ahead of us, and I don't want to be out on the quiet roads at dusk when those kangaroos are even harder to spot. As we drive away, I catch a glimpse of an intriguing sign indicating a restricted access road. I slow down and peer at it as we pass. It's the turnoff for the New Norcia Station, a deep-space antenna with a 114-foot dish, built by the European Space Agency in 2003 to communicate with satellites. It's incredible, the things you can find in the Australian outback. Written by Anna Hartley. First appeared on <a href="http://Stuff.co.nz" target="_blank">Stuff.co.nz</a>. Related links: <a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/travel/international/2016/04/landing-plane-on-bhutan-paro-airport-runway/">The world’s most difficult runway to land</a> <a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/travel/international/2016/04/lifetime-ban-british-airways-flight-for-getting-up/">Woman gets banned from airline for life for getting up too often on flight</a> <a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/travel/international/2016/03/singapore-airlines-new-plane-end-jetlag/">This new plane could be the end of jetlag</a>

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Sinead O'Connor was once seen as a sacrilegious rebel, but her music and life were deeply infused with spiritual seeking

Five spiritual tourism destinations and how to experience them

British Museum unveils female spiritual beings exhibit

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The monks walking Japan’s mountains

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Sinead O'Connor was once seen as a sacrilegious rebel, but her music and life were deeply infused with spiritual seeking

Five spiritual tourism destinations and how to experience them

British Museum unveils female spiritual beings exhibit

How to keep a gratitude journal

The monks walking Japan’s mountains

Backyard pilgrimages become the way to a spiritual journey thanks to COVID

Reflecting on my spirituality throughout the years

A spiritual oasis in the outback

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