Upcoming Pilgrimages
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The Common Ground Experience
Common Ground is a pilgrimage project of Not Sorry Productions. Through immersive retreats, we integrate reading, writing, and walking so participants have the space to deeply explore themselves through a particular text with a small group of fellow meaning makers.
We plan these trips with the explicit goal of addressing the spiritual needs of our participants. Through community, rigor, and ritual, we treat traditionally secular things as if they were sacred. In this commitment, we practice empathy, hope, and courage and move closer to treating one another as sacred.
Photos by Peter Mueller, Emily Dickinson 2023 & Ariana Nedelman, Rebecca 2023
With this in mind, these trips have limited spacing so our faculty members can intentionally make an effort to both meet pilgrims where they are and to push them into something more; therefore, these trips are rooted in rigor and practice, making them much more than typical travel. Through the ancient practice of pilgrimage, we attempt to co-create meaningful experiences that we take back with us long after the trip is over and live our lives as enlightened, refreshed people.
Our Ethos
WHAT WE MEAN BY SACRED
By treating a book or a practice (like "writing" & "walking") as sacred, we mean three things:
Reading, writing, walking, intention and ritual will shape each day of our trips. We will try to live attentively, open to what Virginia Woolf calls “moments of being.” We will have reflection questions and rituals both new and ancient to accompany us on the important and challenging work of living meaningful lives.
Faith: Faith in something does not mean we understand the thing to be perfect - either in construction or moral teaching - but that it is worthy of our attention and contemplation. A guiding principle is that the more time we give to the subject, the more blessings it has to give us.
Rigor and ritual: Sacred texts are often read slowly and with concentrated attention. Through our rigorous engagement of meditative reading, writing, and walking practices, we believe we can deepen our understanding of the object itself and of the ways in which it speaks to our lives.
Engaging in community: Sacred texts are read and reread, questioned and pondered by communities. Writing circles give us someone to express as we process. Walking together gives us strength and rejuvenation on the hard stretches. Chaplaincy gives opportunities for exploring a particular personal question we have for our own lives. On our pilgrimages, we aspire to build a community around the practices in which we are engaging.
Our Participants
A Common Ground pilgrimage could be right for you if…
Each of the individuals who join these trips comes from different walks of life, has varying goals, and leaves with a unique sense of fulfillment.
You are a huge fan of the book we are exploring during the trip. You have never read the book before, but have always wanted a reason to. You are interested in building a community of peers. You have a busy life and never get the time to simply reflect. You need a space to contemplate art and beauty. You love to walk in beautiful places. You are ready for a transition and need time to think things through. You want to celebrate a milestone or life change. You hope to find rituals that encourage growing wisdom and meaning making. You are looking to create a spiritual life, but aren’t sure you know how to get started. Read testimonials from past participants here.
Our Past Trips
Click here to learn more about our past pilgrimages
“Literature is no one’s private ground; literature is common ground….Let us trespass freely and fearlessly and find our own way for ourselves.”
