- Time of past OR future Camino
- 1989, 2016, 2018, 2023, 2024...
I was listening to a Camino podcast recently and, as these podcasts are wont to do, common Camino expressions were brought up for discussion. You know the ones I mean. "The Camino provides." "The Camino doesn't give us what we want. It gives us what we need." And similar expressions. And I got to thinking about them.
There are those who think the Camino is a magical place, hallowed by the footsteps and mystical energy of millions of people over thousands of years. These have created somewhere distinctly different with its own powers. Powers that manifest in "providing" and "giving us what we need".
Myself, I don't think that. But I do find my experiences on the Camino different than my experiences elsewhere. I am of two minds. So, much as these expressions resonate with me, they also bug me. This post is me attempting to sort this out.
As anyone who has walked the Camino knows, there are plenty of memorials to people who have died on the Camino. Others have found their Caminos cut short by illness and accident. Did the Camino provide for these people? Did it give them what they need? Many of us tend to look upon the Camino as a metaphor for Life. But it is not just a metaphor. It is life. As we walk it, we live. And, like the rest of life, ultimately, I don't think we can say that it gives us what we want, or what we need. It gives us what it gives us. It is up to us what we do with that.
And that, I think, is where the Camino difference comes in. Not in what the Camino gives us but in what we do with it. When I wrote about people dying on the Camino or getting sick or injured and having to return home early, and was that what they needed, I bet some readers were thinking "Maybe it was." Maybe it was their time to die in the Divine Plan. Maybe there were lessons that they would only learn by cutting their Camino short. Maybe there were people to meet that they would not have met if they had completed their Camino. It is this attitude of taking what we are given and striving to find what we need in it that, I think, is responsible for the resonance many people find with the saying "The Camino may not give you what you want but it gives you what you need."
Similarly, many of us have stories of chance encounters with strangers who appeared just when needed with just what was needed, "Camino angels" if you will. These are often behind the expression "the Camino provides". But, without any disrespect to the fine people of Spain and my fine fellow pilgrims, I suspect that it is less that people are inherently better on the Camino and more that we are more open to the opportunities to receive help than we are back home.
All of which leads me to the conclusion that, if it is not the Camino that is different, but our attitudes and approach that are different while we are walking it, you would think that the same "Camino magic" is available anywhere - anywhere we choose to bring those attitudes and that approach. If we love the magic (and I, for one, do) why don't we experience it everywhere once we've learned how?
I suspect it isn't as easy as it seems. It requires energy and attention and intention. On the Camino we lead a simpler life which makes room for these. We are walking with people who practice them, too, and whose practice can reinforce ours. To use a Camino metaphor, the well-worn paths lead us there. At home, it is the opposite. We are distracted by many tasks and responsibilities and surrounded by people with a different attitude and approach. We have to bushwhack to follow this path, rather than taking the easy route on an established path.
I'm not sure where I'm really going with this post. I'm just thinking out loud at the keyboard. But I know I'll be looking for opportunities to practice these attitudes and approaches here at home. It is another way I will attempt to keep that "Camino magic" going.
There are those who think the Camino is a magical place, hallowed by the footsteps and mystical energy of millions of people over thousands of years. These have created somewhere distinctly different with its own powers. Powers that manifest in "providing" and "giving us what we need".
Myself, I don't think that. But I do find my experiences on the Camino different than my experiences elsewhere. I am of two minds. So, much as these expressions resonate with me, they also bug me. This post is me attempting to sort this out.
As anyone who has walked the Camino knows, there are plenty of memorials to people who have died on the Camino. Others have found their Caminos cut short by illness and accident. Did the Camino provide for these people? Did it give them what they need? Many of us tend to look upon the Camino as a metaphor for Life. But it is not just a metaphor. It is life. As we walk it, we live. And, like the rest of life, ultimately, I don't think we can say that it gives us what we want, or what we need. It gives us what it gives us. It is up to us what we do with that.
And that, I think, is where the Camino difference comes in. Not in what the Camino gives us but in what we do with it. When I wrote about people dying on the Camino or getting sick or injured and having to return home early, and was that what they needed, I bet some readers were thinking "Maybe it was." Maybe it was their time to die in the Divine Plan. Maybe there were lessons that they would only learn by cutting their Camino short. Maybe there were people to meet that they would not have met if they had completed their Camino. It is this attitude of taking what we are given and striving to find what we need in it that, I think, is responsible for the resonance many people find with the saying "The Camino may not give you what you want but it gives you what you need."
Similarly, many of us have stories of chance encounters with strangers who appeared just when needed with just what was needed, "Camino angels" if you will. These are often behind the expression "the Camino provides". But, without any disrespect to the fine people of Spain and my fine fellow pilgrims, I suspect that it is less that people are inherently better on the Camino and more that we are more open to the opportunities to receive help than we are back home.
All of which leads me to the conclusion that, if it is not the Camino that is different, but our attitudes and approach that are different while we are walking it, you would think that the same "Camino magic" is available anywhere - anywhere we choose to bring those attitudes and that approach. If we love the magic (and I, for one, do) why don't we experience it everywhere once we've learned how?
I suspect it isn't as easy as it seems. It requires energy and attention and intention. On the Camino we lead a simpler life which makes room for these. We are walking with people who practice them, too, and whose practice can reinforce ours. To use a Camino metaphor, the well-worn paths lead us there. At home, it is the opposite. We are distracted by many tasks and responsibilities and surrounded by people with a different attitude and approach. We have to bushwhack to follow this path, rather than taking the easy route on an established path.
I'm not sure where I'm really going with this post. I'm just thinking out loud at the keyboard. But I know I'll be looking for opportunities to practice these attitudes and approaches here at home. It is another way I will attempt to keep that "Camino magic" going.
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