Oh my God (pun intended), experiencing the Old City area of Jerusalem for myself was both spiritually uplifting and somewhat anticlimactic … and incredibly enlightening.
To walk along the Via Dolorosa (the path that cross bearing Jesus is said to have taken en route to his crucifixion) … to witness such devotion in action among the pilgrims at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and those in prayer at the Western Wall or on their way to the Al-Asque Mosque … to see, despite the troubles, the adherents of three world religions worshipping in close proximity … these were profound and touching moments.
But … to negotiate the tight passage of tacky souvenir shops as I walked in the alleged steps of Christ … to lose count of all the soldiers and their guns positioned throughout this historic quarter … to be aware of the years of tribal, ethnic and sectarian bloodshed over such as small plot of land … well, that was a more grounding realisation that despite its age-old significance Jerusalem is in many regards just another place where people have to earn a living … that there’s not so much any glowing aura about it as there is a banality among ancient attractions.
If you’ve ever attended church/mosque/synagogue – or watched practically any episode of the nightly news over the past few decades, you’re bound to have some sort of concept in your head about Jerusalem – one that’s certain to be considerably more visceral than other notions about most anywhere else. For me, touring the Old City presented a chance to confirm and to question my ideas about faith and religion … to develop (an albeit touristic and really very safe and sheltered) outlook regarding the current events shaping the Middle East today … to further appreciate the broad perspective granted during my brief trip.
More to come soon in my short series of posts recounting my Jerusalem City Break.
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