2004

Travel broadens the mind and expands the self. Imagine a pilgrimage to the source of the holiest river in India, the Ganges. The trek involves three days to reach the enormous melting glacier that forms the vast river. Indian and foreign pilgrims that reach the source of the Ganges take the icy plunge into the river to purify themselves, as is indoctrinated by religious belief. This plunge somehow changes them. Similarly, Killian and Hardy (1998) coined the term cultural plunge as dips into a new cultural experience. In their article, the plunge is used as a metaphor describing the experiential component of professional training as a therapist. The experience provides individuals the opportunity to possess minority status and experience the anxiety or discomfort often associated with being an “outsider.” What about the cultural experience causes change for each individual?