You say this but you don't yet understand the difference between a Camino and a Pilgrimage. There is nothing wrong with taking a Camino - par ex: Mike is already connecting through the forum, and also phoning up Australian radio shows - but what this means is that although he is there he is not there. He is experiencing his Camino as an external tourist event. - and that is fine - but all it means is that he is taking a long walk which he will see externally to himself, an external visual event... it will not be an internal process, it will not be 'pilgrimage'. If he keeps on this way it will not change him, in any way at all.
The only way to be on a pilgrimage is to switch off the outside world - for just once in our lives switch off the outside world. Consider - were you to go on retreat to a monastery what would be the very first thing the welcoming monks or friars or nuns would do? They would confiscate all your electronic devices - because you cannot have a genuine retreat and at the same time stay in contact with the outside world. The Camino is the same - if you just want a long and interesting walk then keep your electronics on, but if you want a pilgrimage, switch them off!
The Camino is probably the only one time in a human's life where they can step out of this world and into a different but very very real world, one not encountered before - so electronic communication with the world left behind has to be switched off - there is no choice, no argument - it is either a long tourist walk or a pilgrimage.
We are 'drawn', 'called' to Camino and if we choose to surrender to that which we do not understand, and never will, then we just may be blessed enough to experience pilgrimage and will be changed by it - or, we can be tourists, chat with our pals at home, and just go on a long walk.
You would have seen, on social platforms such as Facebook, people posting photographs of their meals, or dates, or holidays? Saying what a wonderful time they were having? Well, it isn't true, because at the exact moment that they were beginning to experience something utterly genuine they withdrew, separated themselves from the experience to post online ... got on to their smart phone, and utterly lost that moment forever - can you not see this?
This is true - it has been true for hundreds of thousands of years and is true today - Camino or Pilgrimage - your choice!
So, No! I know Mike and know him to be a good man - but he has no concept yet of immersing himself within and experiencing his Camino and processing his loneliness until he comes out the other side into something wonderfully genuine .. and that is why, as a friend, I told him to "turn the bloody phone off mate"
Buen Camino
