IX. ORIGINS OF PILGRIMAGE

The catchment basin of a pilgrimage center contains villages which themselves may be self-organized complex systems, as has been noted by Saraswati (1995). In a manner like slowly increasing the slope of a rice pile or the build-up of magnetic stress o n the sun, a village may be brought to a critical state through what Saraswati identifies as bio-spiritual stress. Release of that stress may result in periodic departures of people on pilgrimages and other forms of creative activity.

The critical event leading to the onset of a particular pilgrimage tradition may have been a charismatic leader, a powerful individualistic vision, a miraculous cure, a novel idea, or simply a wealthy patron. A pilgrimage tradition may start when the c ultural system departs sufficiently from equilibrium that a very slight fluctuation or bio-spiritual impulse can produce a transforming avalanche of spontaneous change and new structure. The circulation of pilgrims from village to pilgrim center creates a n open system that in some cases transcends regional diversity and social stratification and opens up possible pathways for innovation and individual social mobility (Bhardwaj 1973). Like the stirring of the cosmic ocean to create amrita, pilgrimag e stirs the cultural landscape, produces new life-giving options, and prevents the stagnation of equilibrium.

Preston (1992) alludes to the "spiritual magnetism" that draws people into a pilgrimage center, but, it is important to note that such attraction is not toward a simple point in space and time. The condition of equilibrium creates an attractive center that is different from pilgrimage. Equilibrium systems attract matter like a sink drain attracts water, the ocean attracts rivers, and black holes attract matter, but in the case of pilgrimage there is a substantially different kind of attraction for ther e is no single, persistent goal to be pursued. The goal changes as the pilgrim changes and the journey may be endless and ever different. Changing dynamical systems can be described mathematically in terms of fixed point, limit cycle, or "strange" attract ors (Cambel 1993). Closed systems moving toward equilibrium are drawn by a fixed point attractor toward a predictable end such as in the cases of the diffusion of a drop of ink in a glass of water or the gradual slowing of a swinging pendulum.

The strange attractor is an important element in the growth of complexity in many self-organizing systems, as matter is pulled into self-transformation by unpredictable, changing, and ambiguous forces. There clearly are powerful attractors at work to c ause pilgrims to journey far and undergo sometimes extreme physical hardships in search of an ideal. In its ambiguity and unpredictability the attractor of pilgrimage shares features with the strange attractor of mathematical chaos theory. In his descript ion of complex physical systems Cambel (1993: 4) comes remarkably close to a description of pilgrimage: "Complex systems are dynamic and not in equilibrium; they are like a journey, not a destination, and they may pursue a moving target."