Location
Monserrat
Start Date
26-6-2026 9:30 AM
End Date
26-6-2026 11:00 AM
Description
Pilgrimage is frequently associated with bodily hardship, often interpreted as a pathway to deeper spiritual transformation. This abstract examines whether physically challenging pilgrimages generate greater spiritual benefit than less demanding journeys, drawing on scholarship from religious studies, sociology, and pilgrimage tourism research. Historically, many traditions frame pilgrimage as an embodied practice involving endurance, sacrifice, and discipline. Within this framework, physical exertion can function as ritualized effort that encourages humility, reflection, and detachment from everyday routines. Scholars drawing on theories of liminality argue that demanding journeys intensify pilgrims’ awareness of vulnerability and transition, thereby supporting experiences of meaning, renewal, and transcendence (Olsen, 2013). Empirical research on long distance walking routes such as the Camino de Santiago further indicates that fatigue, discomfort, and sustained effort can encourage introspection and reinterpretation of personal identity (Mróz, 2021). However, recent studies question whether hardship is necessary for spiritual depth. Pilgrims frequently report comparable levels of spiritual fulfilment when journeys are motivated by intention, community, and reflective practice rather than physical severity alone (Nilsson & Tesfahuney, 2018).
Accessible routes, shorter stages, and hybrid spiritual tourism experiences still facilitate contemplation, social connection, and narrative meaning making. Consequently, physical challenge should be understood as one potential catalyst among several factors shaping pilgrimage spirituality. While strenuous journeys may intensify embodied awareness and symbolic sacrifice, the broader literature suggests that transformative spirituality emerges primarily through interpretation, ritual context, and personal meaning making. Therefore, physically demanding pilgrimages can deepen spiritual engagement, but they are not a universal requirement for profound religious or existential transformation within contemporary pilgrimage practice and scholarship. Future research should compare varying levels of route difficulty alongside pilgrims’ motivations, expectations, and interpretive frameworks to clarify how bodily effort interacts with belief, narrative, and community in shaping reported spiritual outcomes across different religious traditions globally.
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Included in
G3) Does a More Physically Demanding Pilgrimage Bring More Spirituality and Closeness to Faith
Monserrat
Pilgrimage is frequently associated with bodily hardship, often interpreted as a pathway to deeper spiritual transformation. This abstract examines whether physically challenging pilgrimages generate greater spiritual benefit than less demanding journeys, drawing on scholarship from religious studies, sociology, and pilgrimage tourism research. Historically, many traditions frame pilgrimage as an embodied practice involving endurance, sacrifice, and discipline. Within this framework, physical exertion can function as ritualized effort that encourages humility, reflection, and detachment from everyday routines. Scholars drawing on theories of liminality argue that demanding journeys intensify pilgrims’ awareness of vulnerability and transition, thereby supporting experiences of meaning, renewal, and transcendence (Olsen, 2013). Empirical research on long distance walking routes such as the Camino de Santiago further indicates that fatigue, discomfort, and sustained effort can encourage introspection and reinterpretation of personal identity (Mróz, 2021). However, recent studies question whether hardship is necessary for spiritual depth. Pilgrims frequently report comparable levels of spiritual fulfilment when journeys are motivated by intention, community, and reflective practice rather than physical severity alone (Nilsson & Tesfahuney, 2018).
Accessible routes, shorter stages, and hybrid spiritual tourism experiences still facilitate contemplation, social connection, and narrative meaning making. Consequently, physical challenge should be understood as one potential catalyst among several factors shaping pilgrimage spirituality. While strenuous journeys may intensify embodied awareness and symbolic sacrifice, the broader literature suggests that transformative spirituality emerges primarily through interpretation, ritual context, and personal meaning making. Therefore, physically demanding pilgrimages can deepen spiritual engagement, but they are not a universal requirement for profound religious or existential transformation within contemporary pilgrimage practice and scholarship. Future research should compare varying levels of route difficulty alongside pilgrims’ motivations, expectations, and interpretive frameworks to clarify how bodily effort interacts with belief, narrative, and community in shaping reported spiritual outcomes across different religious traditions globally.