Sometimes it’s difficult to see beyond the mundane complexities of our lives – our assignments, our work, our chores – so to get closer to our spiritual life, sometimes we have to remove ourselves from our everyday world and plunge ourselves into the world of the sacred. Retreat, in which we place our attention on meditation and prayer: and Pilgrimage, where we meet sacred objects and teachers –  are two time-tested ways of bringing us closer to the spiritual. This talk describes both, and how one might plan to do a retreat or pilgrimage.