(Finalist in our 15th-anniversary contest in 2018, Category 2: How a rejuvenating trip with Spiritours could transform my life?)
You read that right… In connection with my participation in your contest, my text will not deal with my spiritual awakening but rather my spiritual “reawakening.”
First of all, allow me to introduce myself. I am a young man of 43 (that’s how I consider myself because, in my opinion, a person is not defined by their age but rather by their personality) who enjoys traveling and sometimes likes to travel off the beaten path. Soon to be in my mid-40s, I can consider that I have a stable job and a fulfilling life on both interpersonal and spiritual levels.
So why talk about reawakening rather than spiritual awakening? While at home, more and more people call themselves atheists and we are increasingly trying to relegate religion to the back burner, I have always been fascinated to see that in many countries, unlike us, people can express their faith without embarrassment and without being criticized.
This is what I decided to do upon my return from a trip to Russia and Ukraine: to express my faith. A faith that I had put aside for fear of being judged by others. I therefore reawakened spiritually. For several years, I had been asleep, and my various travels reawakened my faith.
A faith that I express through the application, in my daily life, of values that are dear to me. Respect, communication, empathy, and sharing are just a few of them. I will always remember what a guide in India told me following a comment from one of the group members regarding the fact that we were visiting temples, mosques, synagogues, and churches in the same day. He then mentioned that respect should remain at the center of all these beliefs. Who are we to judge the beliefs of another?
If I choose to enter Category 2 of your contest, it is because I regularly consult the website to see the various trips offered in Israel and Jordan. If I happened to be the winner of Category 2, I would hasten, after thanking life, to reserve my place for an upcoming departure.
A trip to the Holy Land would only bring me closer to this faith that dwells within me. I have always dreamed of visiting this country to recharge my batteries, to pray, and to learn more about these regions which, although distant, seem so close because I have heard about them since my youth, during the times I went to Sunday service with my parents.
Everything goes too fast these days, and I am one of those who believe that we must take time to recharge and reconnect with ourselves. We are in an era where rapid consumption is too rapid and where it becomes easy to get lost and especially to forget ourselves. There have never been as many means of communication as today (emails, texts, etc.), and it seems to me that people have never been so distant from their loved ones.
Traveling allows me to reconnect with myself and those around me. The people I met during my few trips did not always have these communication tools but, in a certain sense, sometimes communicated often better than we do. It is from these examples that I like to draw inspiration when I travel.
A trip with Spiritours would be for me a way to be inspired by others, by the customs and traditions of a country while growing this faith within me and confirming it. An orchard must be cultivated, and my spiritual orchard, I want to maintain it with the help of Spiritours.
I know that all applications will surely deserve to win, but I still wanted to participate in this contest by sharing this story with you. My story.
“Life is a long field to cultivate. Traveling is sowing the diversity of the earth there.
Traveling is embellishing it with the colors of the world.”
Quote by Ludovic Lesven
Par Yves-Patrick Laurent.