Did anyone else find like me, that whilst the camino was a wonderful and hugely rewarding spiritual experience, that it was marred at times by having to listen to an emerging 'new age' orthodoxy on the camino...Was anyone else bored rigid by people who felt it their obligation to bang on about their 'past lives', stone placing, ley lines, shamanism,seeing symbolism in anything at all we came across, 'the nature', 'the universe', and a plethora of esoteric quasi-religious beliefs that one was obliged to indulge whilst on the Camino.
I was also surprised by the amount of these tedious twerps who seemed to think that you were in some way mentally deficient when you expressed no interest in going out to Finisterre and burning your clothes and watching the sunset. The fact that for me, the pilgrimage ended in Santiago was met with too many knowing smiles, of the sort that suggested that " ah so you are not one of the truly enlightened like me" type, this alongside being a non-vegetarian, was proof positive of your defectiveness. I dont like zealotry of any sort, and I found some of the many new age zealots on the Camino a pain in the butt to be quite honest, was I alone in this reaction? 8)
I was also surprised by the amount of these tedious twerps who seemed to think that you were in some way mentally deficient when you expressed no interest in going out to Finisterre and burning your clothes and watching the sunset. The fact that for me, the pilgrimage ended in Santiago was met with too many knowing smiles, of the sort that suggested that " ah so you are not one of the truly enlightened like me" type, this alongside being a non-vegetarian, was proof positive of your defectiveness. I dont like zealotry of any sort, and I found some of the many new age zealots on the Camino a pain in the butt to be quite honest, was I alone in this reaction? 8)