Purky
Intermittent Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- Reality is frequently inaccurate
Apart from the fact that I really enjoyed all the reactions, comments and different perspectives on the previous thread, I also felt there were some ideas offered that fleshed out the notion of a Grand Camino Theory of Everything a lot more. I hope to offer a little progressive insight with this one. The observant reader may have noticed that I dropped the word 'secular' from the title. There are a few reasons for that, and it might be wise to start there. The first reason was rightly provided by @t2andreo when he remarked that (Christian) religion provided the "spark" that ignited the Camino de Santiago in the first place. Religious tradition was, and can still be a prime mover behind a pilgrimage, and should be recognised as such. So introducing a term like 'secular Camino' might be construed as somewhat flippant, and that is not my intention.
Which brings me to the second reason why I choose to drop the secular thing on this one: inclusiveness. Since I have been reading this forum I have seen reference to Buddhists, Jews and Muslims walking the Camino, as well as Christians and atheists. The more, the merrier, as far as I'm concerned, and everybody is invited to add to the Grand Camino Theory of Everything. Having said that, I am not so much delving into the religious motivation of a pilgrimage, as I am looking for the principles that I think are innately present at the core of a pilgrimage and seem to unite us all as pilgrims. And get people hooked on walking them, and coming back for more with equal facility.
I started out by looking at pain or discomfort or even hardship and suffering and the role (or function) this can have during a pilgrimage, at least for me. By using it as a tool for personal growth or discovery, and/or as a means to get out of your head and into your body. Existential masochism, within reasonable limits of course, because you have to draw the line somewhere for yourself. But that line seems to be different for everybody, so a little tweaking and some trial and error are in order. But I stand by my conviction that pain can push you beyond your normal limits (or happens when you push yourself beyond your limits) and as such is nothing to be afraid of or to be avoided.
This point of view is shared by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and his work on 'flow', introduced by @NualaOC on the previous thread. She linked an article where I found the following quote: "Flow experiences often consist of painful bodily sensations, as when an athlete pushes himself beyond his normal limits in order to win a race (...). Despite the pain, these are the moments that people often recall as being the peak moments of their lives." The fact that a camino isn't a race that can be won doesn't change the dynamic of the situation on a pilgrimage where (some) pain or discomfort needs to be endured every now and then. Taking the bad with the good can be another way of looking at it.
But the idea of 'flow' has much more to offer than just the integration of pain into its process. The concept of 'flow' is as follows: "The best moments in our lives are when our body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile." During a succesful flow you are completely absorbed by and at one with what you are doing. Sound familiar? "There is a moment when you walk several hours that you are only a body walking. Only that. You are nobody. You have no identity. You have no past. You have no future. You are only a body walking." (Frederic Gros, 'A Philosophy of Walking') What we're looking at is basically the ultimate 'here & now', not unlike the state Buddhists refer to as 'mindfulness', or 'moksha' for yoga practitioners.
This strong sense of being in the here and now, of living in the present, is something I have read many times on this forum as one of the key ingredients of a succesful camino. The chance to step out of ourselves, see the world with fresh and uncluttered eyes, is something rare in our everyday lives but somehow easier to accomplish on the camino. That is, if it has been "prepared for and cultivated by each person, by setting challenges that are neither too demanding nor too simple for ones abilities." So it does not just happen: you have to put some effort and intent into it. But the beauty of the camino is that this preparation and cultivation can take place during the camino itself.
A lot of you know about this. In my experience, during my first camino, week one was all about my body. I needed to build up stamina, and it hurt. My joints creaked, my muscles ached, I shuffled like an old man for a couple of steps after I had been sitting down for a few minutes and my feet protested. I thought about food and soft beds a lot. I was getting myself in shape. Week two was about my mind. Vivid memories and flashbacks, making up silly stories, wrestling with songs and shreds of music that wouldn't leave my head and sudden bursts of laughter or tears. And from week three on the real magic slowly started to happen. Periods of silence that would get longer and longer, a growing feeling of pleasant detachment from the chatter in my head and expanding grace.
The weird part though, is that on every camino since then I can get into the state of week three quicker. It's like some sort of physical memory has developed, or a beachhead has been established. I'm not pushing for it, but that state of mind flows easier nowadays when I'm walking. But I still need kilometers and days, distance and time, to really get there. I also seem to need some of that distance and time for easily initiating meaningful encounters with others. Next to 'flow' or being in the 'here and now', another very important pull of the camino for most pilgrims. Most eloquently articulated by @Davey Boyd, as he told us of the answer he got when he asked an old lady why she had been walking caminos for eight years: "Because of you."
Somehow people on a camino seem to be different from the ones in our daily lives, and a lot of times more natural to relate with. This is partly because people in our everyday life have a lot more "baggage built up around them" as @JillGat recognised. One part on why this is the case, is of course the longer history you share with people you know for a longer period of time. But another thing is that I think the camino playfully provides us with the opportunity to take a step back from ourselves and our own baggage (including preconceived ideas) which will very much influence how we relate to and perceive others. Personally I felt I had been offered the chance to reinvent myself, or at least take a good long look at who or what I really am, and most pilgrims around me felt the same way.
These circumstances can generate a tremendous feeling of freedom, creativity and possibility. The sky is quite literally the limit, the rest you can walk. And funnily enough, other people and pilgrims proved fundamental in the process of getting reacquainted with myself. Because I was able to step away from the ideas (some might even say illusions) about myself, I suddenly had a far better view of the subject matter. One that I also gladly and more easily shared with others.
I found all this to echoe with the work of Emmanuel Levinas (suggested by @SabineP), especially with one of his most famous quotes: "I become I in the face of the Other." This quote might also explain the overwhelming sense of respect and camaraderie between pilgrims: across borders, ancestry, ethnicity and religion we seem to band together very well. 'Cause we're all pretty much on the same page. (Most of the time, as @davebugg unfortunately found out recently, but some aren't on that page just yet.)
In the ideas of Levinas, there is a lot of ethics involved in how you relate to the Other. The fact that this runs rather parallel with the ideas of the Existentialists regarding authenticity, responsibility and choice that I refered to in my previous thread was nice to notice. I like it when that happens. But anyway, most pilgrims seem to have a good grasp of that responsibility and act accordingly. Which is one reason why I am still a part of this forum.
Well, this turned out a bit longer than I'd hoped for, but this is as far as I've come this time around. Maybe the Grand Camino Theory of Everything became a little more solid today, credit to all of you who participated the last time. Thanks again for that.
Which brings me to the second reason why I choose to drop the secular thing on this one: inclusiveness. Since I have been reading this forum I have seen reference to Buddhists, Jews and Muslims walking the Camino, as well as Christians and atheists. The more, the merrier, as far as I'm concerned, and everybody is invited to add to the Grand Camino Theory of Everything. Having said that, I am not so much delving into the religious motivation of a pilgrimage, as I am looking for the principles that I think are innately present at the core of a pilgrimage and seem to unite us all as pilgrims. And get people hooked on walking them, and coming back for more with equal facility.
I started out by looking at pain or discomfort or even hardship and suffering and the role (or function) this can have during a pilgrimage, at least for me. By using it as a tool for personal growth or discovery, and/or as a means to get out of your head and into your body. Existential masochism, within reasonable limits of course, because you have to draw the line somewhere for yourself. But that line seems to be different for everybody, so a little tweaking and some trial and error are in order. But I stand by my conviction that pain can push you beyond your normal limits (or happens when you push yourself beyond your limits) and as such is nothing to be afraid of or to be avoided.
This point of view is shared by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and his work on 'flow', introduced by @NualaOC on the previous thread. She linked an article where I found the following quote: "Flow experiences often consist of painful bodily sensations, as when an athlete pushes himself beyond his normal limits in order to win a race (...). Despite the pain, these are the moments that people often recall as being the peak moments of their lives." The fact that a camino isn't a race that can be won doesn't change the dynamic of the situation on a pilgrimage where (some) pain or discomfort needs to be endured every now and then. Taking the bad with the good can be another way of looking at it.
But the idea of 'flow' has much more to offer than just the integration of pain into its process. The concept of 'flow' is as follows: "The best moments in our lives are when our body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile." During a succesful flow you are completely absorbed by and at one with what you are doing. Sound familiar? "There is a moment when you walk several hours that you are only a body walking. Only that. You are nobody. You have no identity. You have no past. You have no future. You are only a body walking." (Frederic Gros, 'A Philosophy of Walking') What we're looking at is basically the ultimate 'here & now', not unlike the state Buddhists refer to as 'mindfulness', or 'moksha' for yoga practitioners.
This strong sense of being in the here and now, of living in the present, is something I have read many times on this forum as one of the key ingredients of a succesful camino. The chance to step out of ourselves, see the world with fresh and uncluttered eyes, is something rare in our everyday lives but somehow easier to accomplish on the camino. That is, if it has been "prepared for and cultivated by each person, by setting challenges that are neither too demanding nor too simple for ones abilities." So it does not just happen: you have to put some effort and intent into it. But the beauty of the camino is that this preparation and cultivation can take place during the camino itself.
A lot of you know about this. In my experience, during my first camino, week one was all about my body. I needed to build up stamina, and it hurt. My joints creaked, my muscles ached, I shuffled like an old man for a couple of steps after I had been sitting down for a few minutes and my feet protested. I thought about food and soft beds a lot. I was getting myself in shape. Week two was about my mind. Vivid memories and flashbacks, making up silly stories, wrestling with songs and shreds of music that wouldn't leave my head and sudden bursts of laughter or tears. And from week three on the real magic slowly started to happen. Periods of silence that would get longer and longer, a growing feeling of pleasant detachment from the chatter in my head and expanding grace.
The weird part though, is that on every camino since then I can get into the state of week three quicker. It's like some sort of physical memory has developed, or a beachhead has been established. I'm not pushing for it, but that state of mind flows easier nowadays when I'm walking. But I still need kilometers and days, distance and time, to really get there. I also seem to need some of that distance and time for easily initiating meaningful encounters with others. Next to 'flow' or being in the 'here and now', another very important pull of the camino for most pilgrims. Most eloquently articulated by @Davey Boyd, as he told us of the answer he got when he asked an old lady why she had been walking caminos for eight years: "Because of you."
Somehow people on a camino seem to be different from the ones in our daily lives, and a lot of times more natural to relate with. This is partly because people in our everyday life have a lot more "baggage built up around them" as @JillGat recognised. One part on why this is the case, is of course the longer history you share with people you know for a longer period of time. But another thing is that I think the camino playfully provides us with the opportunity to take a step back from ourselves and our own baggage (including preconceived ideas) which will very much influence how we relate to and perceive others. Personally I felt I had been offered the chance to reinvent myself, or at least take a good long look at who or what I really am, and most pilgrims around me felt the same way.
These circumstances can generate a tremendous feeling of freedom, creativity and possibility. The sky is quite literally the limit, the rest you can walk. And funnily enough, other people and pilgrims proved fundamental in the process of getting reacquainted with myself. Because I was able to step away from the ideas (some might even say illusions) about myself, I suddenly had a far better view of the subject matter. One that I also gladly and more easily shared with others.
I found all this to echoe with the work of Emmanuel Levinas (suggested by @SabineP), especially with one of his most famous quotes: "I become I in the face of the Other." This quote might also explain the overwhelming sense of respect and camaraderie between pilgrims: across borders, ancestry, ethnicity and religion we seem to band together very well. 'Cause we're all pretty much on the same page. (Most of the time, as @davebugg unfortunately found out recently, but some aren't on that page just yet.)
In the ideas of Levinas, there is a lot of ethics involved in how you relate to the Other. The fact that this runs rather parallel with the ideas of the Existentialists regarding authenticity, responsibility and choice that I refered to in my previous thread was nice to notice. I like it when that happens. But anyway, most pilgrims seem to have a good grasp of that responsibility and act accordingly. Which is one reason why I am still a part of this forum.
Well, this turned out a bit longer than I'd hoped for, but this is as far as I've come this time around. Maybe the Grand Camino Theory of Everything became a little more solid today, credit to all of you who participated the last time. Thanks again for that.
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