The Journey The journey is important. The Prophet Mohammed was a merchant by trade, traveling in caravans from the tip of Arabia up through the Fertile Crescent. Perhaps that experience has a connection with the Muslim pillar of the Hajj - the pilgrimage to Mecca (Makkah) required of all Muslims. While the key purpose of the hajj is the religious experience within the holy city, the journey too has a spiritual significance. In almost all religions pilgrimages are common.

My own religion is a very personal Sufism, that is, a broad-minded spirituality based primarily on both Islamic and Christian thought. I hope to one day make the journey to Mecca as well as other sites of religious importance, but the day I begin that journey will not be the beginning of my hajj. Already today I am on a spiritual journey seeking to know the deepest truth and highest reason of human existence.  ¶ 11:36 AM