- Time of past OR future Camino
- CF (2015), CP (2016), part of Vasco (2019)
It is with hesitation that I write on a topic that has been bothering me over many years of forum membership, and that is the equating of the desire to walk the Way again with addiction. I live in a country that, in rural areas, as well as major cities is bedevilled by the social and personal ills of opiate and other addictions. At present the UK is fighting a battle against the recruitment of very young children to act as couriers for drugs - known as county lines. Please pilgrims, do we really feel that walking the Camino is comparable to the numbing of mind and body that opiates provide for those poor souls whose lives have led them to their present dire circumstances. When drugs come into a community families are ruined, crime rockets and the threat of violence is always present, as this is a trade controlled by vicious people without a moral compass.
Please can we explore a wider vocabulary to express what motivates some of us to repeat the experience of walking to Santiago de Compostela that doesn't pathologise the activity? This means trying to move beyond describing it as a compulsion to which we must submit. After all there are lots of things we might wish to repeat ad infinitum that are not always good for us, but we are able to discern the difference between compulsion and choice, and surely a pilgrimage is more meaningful than the sating of any particular appetite. I understand that some members when using the word 'addiction' in relation to their wish to walk again (& again), did so with humorous intent.
It's a beautiful sunny morning here is Scotland after days of gales and torrential rain so it is not grumpiness that prompted the post, rather that I always shudder slightly when the word 'addiction' is used in relation to something I consider to be an experience filled with joy, offering opportunities for reflection and reaffirming what is good about humanity.
As an addendum, I am familiar with the history (not the experience) of the use of psychotropic drugs such as peyote in spiritual practices aimed at expanding the consciousness of those who believe but that is a separate matter and not in any way associated with addiction.
Please can we explore a wider vocabulary to express what motivates some of us to repeat the experience of walking to Santiago de Compostela that doesn't pathologise the activity? This means trying to move beyond describing it as a compulsion to which we must submit. After all there are lots of things we might wish to repeat ad infinitum that are not always good for us, but we are able to discern the difference between compulsion and choice, and surely a pilgrimage is more meaningful than the sating of any particular appetite. I understand that some members when using the word 'addiction' in relation to their wish to walk again (& again), did so with humorous intent.
It's a beautiful sunny morning here is Scotland after days of gales and torrential rain so it is not grumpiness that prompted the post, rather that I always shudder slightly when the word 'addiction' is used in relation to something I consider to be an experience filled with joy, offering opportunities for reflection and reaffirming what is good about humanity.
As an addendum, I am familiar with the history (not the experience) of the use of psychotropic drugs such as peyote in spiritual practices aimed at expanding the consciousness of those who believe but that is a separate matter and not in any way associated with addiction.