Camino gluttony? Are you guilty?

[Caminando]

An increasing number of people have walked several caminos. I'd guess that this is a modern phenomenon, impossible in previous centuries. But is this mere greed and also too much of a good thing?

If doing multiple caminos is "a good thing", is it also a reflection of a consumer society, where more is better? How many caminos are too much? By walking several caminos are you devaluing the experience?

Linked to this possible excess is the torrent of books and info about the camino. Is it possible that this too devalues experience by removing spontaneity, freshness and wonder from a camino? Do you agree or disagree with Keats in "Lamia" where he said

....Do not all charms fly
at the mere touch of cold philosophy?...
...Philosophy will clip an angel's wings,
Conquer all mysteries by rule and line,
Empty the haunted air, the gnomed mine-
Unweave a rainbow......

(by philosophy, he meant knowledge)

In relation to your camino, do you approve of the title of a Graham Greene novel "Journey without Maps"? Have you walked "without maps"?

Is too much knowledge whether by multiple caminos or too much info a corrosive thing?

 

[sillydoll]

Some people go to Brighton every year for their holidays - because they like it there.
Some people have a summer cottage in the mountains and go there every year - because they like it there.
Some people go to Benidorm every year - because they like it there.
Some people have a cabin in the woods and go there every year - because they like it there.
Some people have a beach cottage that they go to every year - because they like it there.
What is there to feel guilty about?
Some people walk a camino route every holiday - because they like it there.
Gluttony?? What a peculiar term for a holiday preference!

 

[Portia1]

I walked the Camino for the first time in 2009 from SJPP to Santiago. I am planning to walk the Portuguese in September 2011. I dont' know that I would equate a longing for the serenity and the discomforting opportunites for self-knowledge along the Camino as gluttony any more than I would equate a longing for physical exercise or longing to read Scripture as gluttony. There are simply some things that we do to make ourselves better and more compassionate people--and some of us are a constant work in progress (myself included!) needing continuing refinement.

I must admit when I first saw the topic title, I was wondering about a french fry overload!!! It took several weeks for me to discover that many places would substitute a salad for the fries. Or perhaps gluttony referred to the wine or the cheese or maybe the bread.....ah, now we could about talk taking more than was actually necessary for one's daily need but oh, so divine in a some excess!

 

[andy.d]

The historical records certainly indicate that serial - and, indeed perpetual, pilgrimage is not a modern phenomenon,

Andy

 

[sillydoll]

'The journey is never over. Only travellers come to an end. The end of one journey is simply the start of another. You have to see what you missed the first time, see again what you already saw, see in springtime what you saw in summer, in daylight what you saw at night, see the sun shining where you saw the rain falling, see the crops growing, the fruit ripen, the stone which has moved, the shadow that was not there before. You have to go back to the footsteps already taken, to go over them again or add fresh ones alongside them. You have to start the journey anew. Always. The traveller sets out once more." Jose Saramago in “Journey to Portugal”

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Gluttony
(From Lat. gluttire, to swallow, to gulp down), the excessive indulgence in food and drink. The moral deformity discernible in this vice lies in its defiance of the order postulated by reason, which prescribes necessity as the measure of indulgence in eating and drinking. This deordination, according to the teaching of the Angelic Doctor, may happen in five ways which are set forth in the scholastic verse: "Prae-propere, laute, nimis, ardenter, studiose" or, according to the apt rendering of Father Joseph Rickably: too soon, too expensively, too much, too eagerly, too daintily. Clearly one who uses food or drink in such a way as to injure his health or impair the mental equipment needed for the discharge of his duties, is guilty of the sin of gluttony. It is incontrovertible that to eat or drink for the mere pleasure of the experience, and for that exclusively, is likewise to commit the sin of gluttony. Such a temper of soul is equivalently the direct and positive shutting out of that reference to our last end which must be found, at least implicitly, in all our actions. At the same time it must be noted that there is no obligation to formerly and explicitly have before one's mind a motive which will immediately relate our actions to God. It is enough that such an intention should be implied in the apprehension of the thing as lawful with a consequent virtual submission to Almighty God. Gluttony is in general a venial sin in so far forth as it is an undue indulgence in a thing which is in itself neither good nor bad. Of course it is obvious that a different estimate would have to be given of one so wedded to the pleasures of the table as to absolutely and without qualification live merely to eat and drink, so minded as to be of the number of those, described by the Apostle St. Paul, "whose god is their belly" (Philippians 3:19). Such a one would be guilty of mortal sin. Likewise a person who, by excesses in eating and drinking, would have greatly impaired his health, or unfitted himself for duties for the performance of which he has a grave obligation, would be justly chargeable with mortal sin. St. John of the Cross, in his work "The Dark Night of the Soul" (I, vi), dissects what he calls spiritual gluttony. He explains that it is the disposition of those who, in prayer and other acts of religion, are always in search of sensible sweetness; they are those who "will feel and taste God, as if he were palpable and accessible to them not only in Communion but in all their other acts of devotion." This he declares is a very great imperfection and productive of great evils.

When I parse this Catholic Encyclopedia essay on gluttony, I can see how repetitive pilgrimages could become gluttony. However, I think "greed" requires a component that denies to another person that which is taken. Since there is always room for one more on a pilgrimage, I personally would have to reject the term "greed."

 

[Rebekah Scott]

I plead guilty to all the above-listed charges. I love food and drink and delicacy and culinary adventure, and I love walking. If I did not walk at least one or two caminos each year I would be fat as a butcher´s dog.

Reb.

 

[AJ]

I plead guilty to all the above-listed charges. I love food and drink and delicacy and culinary adventure, and I love walking. If I did not walk at least one or two caminos each year I would be fat as a butcher´s dog.

Reb.

Yo tambien

 

[Caminando]

Much food (no pun intended) for thought here in responses. I'm a pilgrimage glutton myself and will do more, I hope. To my regret I find I am an old geezer, but have no intention of hanging up my boots until I can't move. I find I also think about the Camino regularly/often; maybe more than I should. I will read anything about the camino if it comes my way. This too is a symptom of my overindulgence (no pun etc). Falcon's very neat observation on greed is a good one.

Yet I wondered what others thought of repeat offenders on the Camino. I think many of those who responded are indeed in that recidivist category. I certainly dont regard it as a holiday as Silly does, but rather in the original sense of "holy day"; which is the real deal.

But I'd like to hear from someone who does think that once is enough, in the manner of Allen Ginsberg who often said "First thought is best thought" , tho' he may have nicked that from a Buddhist, as was his happy wont. There could easily be something in that (i.e.to be a virgin pilgrim) rather than be dreadful camino trash like me.

 

[sillydoll]

Caminando, you probably won't hear from those who think 'once is enough' because they have long gone from this forum!
The only time I can walk a camino is when I have a holiday - a period of leave from home and responsibility - and my first choice over the past 10 years has been to take a long walk, usually on a pilgrimage trail.

 

[Anniesantiago]

Hello, my name is Annie, and I'm a Camino Addict.
And... I'm not ashamed!

I LOVE Spain!
No, you don't get it.
I don't just like Spain... I LOVE SPAIN!

Years ago on a European vacation I took a train from Barcelona to Sevilla.
I remember saying to myself, "This country is spectacular!"
As soon as I got home, I started looking for a way to walk it, to see it more personally.
I found the Camino.
That began a love affair that is the one constant in my life.

If I were younger and had a trade, I would live there.
But since I am older and could not support myself there, I save and visit whenever I can.
And when I go, I prefer to walk... to SEE the countryside, to TALK to the people, to EAT the fantastic food, and LEARN about the culture. I have met more interesting people from all over the world, and had more magical, life-changing experiences, than anywhere else in 57 years.
I found myself - the one I lost - while walking the Camino.

I love it, love it, love it.
Make me a button.. I'll wear it!

 

[AJ]

When I parse this Catholic Encyclopedia essay on gluttony, I can see how repetitive pilgrimages could become gluttony. However, I think "greed" requires a component that denies to another person that which is taken. Since there is always room for one more on a pilgrimage, I personally would have to reject the term "greed."

I prefer to think of it as an addiction rather than greed. My name is AJ and I am a caminoholic.

 

[gittiharre]

Hmmmm, for many of us it is a passion rather than an obsession or addiction. The obsession and addiciton cause harm, the passion brings inspiration and joy....at least that is what I think.... Gitti

 

[Caminando]

Hello, my name is Annie, and I'm a Camino Addict.
And... I'm not ashamed!

I LOVE Spain!
No, you don't get it.
I don't just like Spain... I LOVE SPAIN!

Years ago on a European vacation I took a train from Barcelona to Sevilla.
I remember saying to myself, "This country is spectacular!"
As soon as I got home, I started looking for a way to walk it, to see it more personally.
I found the Camino.
That began a love affair that is the one constant in my life.

If I were younger and had a trade, I would live there.
But since I am older and could not support myself there, I save and visit whenever I can.
And when I go, I prefer to walk... to SEE the countryside, to TALK to the people, to EAT the fantastic food, and LEARN about the culture. I have met more interesting people from all over the world, and had more magical, life-changing experiences, than anywhere else in 57 years.
I found myself - the one I lost - while walking the Camino.

I love it, love it, love it.
Make me a button.. I'll wear it!

Could you retire to Spain one day? It is a fascinating country, I agree.

 

[Caminando]

Caminando, you probably won't hear from those who think 'once is enough' because they have long gone from this forum!

You know, that didn't occur to me but it's obvious now you mention it. Only hardened repeat offenders are likely to be heard from. And they are already lost (or found).

 

[Portia1]

And isn't that the long and short of "you must lose your life in order to find it"? Those who cling tightly to their lives will never appreciate how the Camino wrestles it away from you inch by inch and then returns it magnified.

 

[JohnnieWalker]

Gluttony? Guilt? Greed?

Such negative words in connection with the Pilgrimage which imho is one of the most positive and life giving experiences. But then again I never understand the people who say "you can get too much of a good thing, you know" Good things... Camino ... give me more anytime.

 

[daesdaemar]

To say that for those (doing multiple Caminos) for whom the Camino is a religious/spiritual undertaking is greedy, is akin to saying that going to church every Sunday is greedy. Doesn't make sense to me???

 

[Caminando]

I'm sorry that one or two of you missed the question marks scattered all over the first post, and were also unsure about rhetorical questions. :shock: I'm surprised that you mistook questions for statements. There's more that you missed....!

Lighten up, chaps!!!

 

[JohnnieWalker]

Why not try jam instead of vinegar.

Merry Christmas to everyone

 

[sillydoll]

Saint Bona of Pisa is the Patron Saint of pilgrims, tour guides, couriers, travel agents and flight attendants.
She was made an official guide of Santiago pilgrims by the Knights of Santiago in the 12th century. (There didn't seem to be any probelms with groups in the 12th C!!)
She did the pilgrimage from her home town to Santiago 10 times. Now that is what one would call a passion for el Camino de Santiago!

 

[Caminando]

Why not try jam instead of vinegar.

Merry Christmas to everyone

I heartily recommend that to you, and hope that Santa brings you good cheer.

Happy Festive Season to all