My name is Lance Whipple, and I've embraced the identity of a Good Life Pilgrim. I define a Pilgrim as a seek-sacred. I see the Camino de Santiago and pilgrimage in whole as a journey of initiation, allowing me to connect with ancient philosophical principles, including Stoicism and my Christian heritage. My belief in the power of transformation through embracing challenges and the pursuit of virtues such as wisdom, courage, justice, temperance, faith, hope, and charity drives my life journey.
I walked the Camino de Santiago mindfully, engaging in deep conversations and practicing mindfulness along the way. I viewed the Camino as a metaphor for life and an initiatory hero's journey, where stepping outside of my comfort zone and embracing the unknown allowed me to confront and transform my expectations, setbacks, and limitations.
My life philosophy draws on Pascal's Wager and my own concept of making Pilgrim's Wagers, representing significant risks I take to cross thresholds from the known to the unknown, from comfort to discomfort, in search of virtue, new perspectives, and the Good Life. The Way of St. James holds a special significance for me, both as a Christian pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela and with its follow-on journey to the end of the world in Finisterre. I embraced a Stoic sense of "sympatheia" for all who have walked before me and for all those I encountered along the way.
I now approach life as an ongoing pilgrimage with an open heart and a willingness to be transformed, and through my experiences on the Camino, I hope to gain new insights into how to live a more fulfilling and meaningful life.
Making a Pilgrim's Wager is part of my life philosophy and involves taking significant risks to cross the boundaries from what I know to the unknown, from comfort to discomfort, in pursuit of virtue and the Good Life. This concept is rooted in Pascal's Wager and I associate it with the idea of pilgrimage as a transformative journey. By making a Pilgrim's Wager, I challenge myself to step outside of my comfort zones and embrace challenges in order to grow and transform as an individual. The idea is to seek out experiences that provide new perspectives and bring a deeper sense of meaning and fulfillment to life. The idea is to take a leap of faith, to let go of comfort, security, the Fear of Missing (FOMO), in order to pursue a Daunting, Thrilling and Important Goal (DTIG) that leads to a more meaningful and fulfilling life. And then another. And another. There will always be another Santiago for me.
