- Time of past OR future Camino
- 2018
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I believe that, in reality, there is actually nothing exceptional about the camino; nothing spiritual, magical or likely to teach me special "lessons." Let me clarify this in an important way: the camino is no MORE essentially spiritual, magical or giving of special insights than any other part of my life potentially is. The sense that the camino has this unique power is an illusion.
I'm very jealous though that you can achieve similar experiences elsewhere.
Oh, not easily! I wish.
If people are free to express their religious and spiritual motivations for walking the Camino on this forum, others with different motivations should be free to express themselves too. My post was not intended to start a religious debate. I respect others' spiritual beliefs and I hope that they will respect my beliefs as well.
Hear hear. Exactly.I'm all for frank and open differences of opinion - a very healthy thing. Discourtesy is something else entirely.
I'm not Christian.
But I definitely feel like a pilgrim, when I walk the Camino.
It's hard to explain, sometimes even to myself, so I don't really try. It''s mysterious.
I practice to be present here and now, and that happens lots of places - but the Camino has something extra that the heart recognizes even if the head can't quite wrap words around it.
The conditions that come together on the Camino are made to support for inner work.
It's everything: its history, the centuries of devotion that have happened as generations of pilgrims made their way to Santiago, the kindness and hospitality of people along the way, and the focused energy of so many faithful, now, before, and to come.
In itself, the camino is just another place. But we have collectively given it meaning that transcends that, and that to me is palpable, and different. It takes me out of myself like no-place else. And it's taught me spiritual lessons I couldn't have learned elsewhere.
So I keep coming back to see what else it has to teach, and to reveal.
But each of us walks for our own reasons. And there are as many intentions as there are peregrino/as.
What gives your Camino meaning is your truth, and you have fearlessly spoken it. No-one can challenge that and it doesn't have to look like mine.
So long as we can all (collectively) walk with respect and kindness for each other, all shall be well. Who knows? We might learn a thing or two in the process. Like how to get along in spite of differences.
It's a small lesson the world could use right now.
[Thank you, Jill, for a lovely and thought provoking thread!]
Goodness, @Robo, spoken like the true gentleman you are. Thank you (I'm blushing).As always @VNwalking, articulated so much better than I could ever hope to do. Double like.
What @Robo said, only I took my name out and stuck Reb's in.As always @Rebekah Scott , articulated so much better than I could ever hope to do. Double like.
Truth unites us. Labels divide us.
And the truth lives inside each one of us. It's what drew most of us to walk this Way. We all are just traveling the road home. If we set aside our labels and egos and presumptions about others, we can walk there together in peace.
Lovely post.There is my confession, and now let me try to explain it. I respect and cheer on others' spiritual perspectives and experiences, walking the Camino de Santiago. All of your experiences and beliefs are as valid, real and true as mine are. So I hope you will allow me to share my personal view.
I am not a Christian. I do not believe that the bones of Jesus' apostle James are buried in Santiago de Compostela. This religious faith aspect of the historic Camino is meaningful to many people, but it's not why I walk. I am not a "pilgrim" in that sense.
I believe that, in reality, there is actually nothing exceptional about the camino; nothing spiritual, magical or likely to teach me special "lessons." Let me clarify this in an important way: the camino is no MORE essentially spiritual, magical or giving of special insights than any other part of my life potentially is. The sense that the camino has this unique power is an illusion.
I love the natural and cultural beauty of the camino across northern Spain. Standing in a village, knowing about the colorful history that occurred on this spot centuries before, is thrilling. I cherish the conversations and time I share with other international walkers and especially with local Spanish people (whose ancestors often go back centuries in those villages). I am intrigued to be walking in the footsteps of pilgrims for over a thousand years. Traveling on foot, experiencing the gradual changes in the ecological zones; different climates, new flowers and unique birds, is amazing.
Lately, in preparation for returning to walk the camino (only five days from now), I've been taking long training hikes along the ancient acequias (water ditches) in my city. Some parts of my walk divert onto paved streets and, while standing at an intersection wearing my backpack, I watch the faces of people driving by. There is a common blank stare; drivers are reviewing where they just came from in the past ("When she did/said that, I should have said...") and thinking about where they are going next in the future ("I wonder if there will be dinner waiting for me at home. I need to be sure to put the trash bin out for the garbage man tomorrow" or even "five days from now I leave for Spain"). Past and future chatter. What a waste of our short lives on earth, while the PRESENT fleets by.
While I am walking the camino or - actually - whenever I am traveling in unfamiliar parts of the world or even hiking in the wilderness near my home, I find that I am much more open to all the magic and lessons that life teaches us. When I am going about my "routine" life, I often operate on auto-pilot and am dulled to these opportunities. It is something that I constantly try to fight. It's a shame, because our lives on earth are short and I feel like I waste a lot of time not being awake Right. Now.
The reason I feel compelled to walk the camino, and to travel, to climb mountains, and even to ride my motorcycle fast is that it is much easier to be PRESENT during these adventures.
Packing what I will carry with me (and not packing my fears) is a valuable Buddhist exercise. My biggest challenge is to stay present until I leave and especially to continue to do so after I come home from walking the camino.
I wonder though, how many of us walking the Camino start out as "walkers" and end it as "pilgrims"?
The trouble starts when I try to figure out what exactly the intention of all that walking is. Why do I walk, what am I (pilgrim/not pilgrim) and what do I hope to become, or find out? .
And so each day before setting out, I would repeat my little prayer. To whoever or whatever might hear it...
Thank you for allowing me to walk another day on this Camino. I promise to walk with an open heart and an open mind and be ready for any lessons you set before me.
Your prayer and my intent are fundamentally the same. For me it is about embracing and celebrating life. My prayer, or mantra or statement would read as: I am happy with today. I will try to walk with an open heart and an open mind and be ready.
Jillgat,There is my confession, and now let me try to explain it. I respect and cheer on others' spiritual perspectives and experiences, walking the Camino de Santiago. All of your experiences and beliefs are as valid, real and true as mine are. So I hope you will allow me to share my personal view.
I am not a Christian. I do not believe that the bones of Jesus' apostle James are buried in Santiago de Compostela. This religious faith aspect of the historic Camino is meaningful to many people, but it's not why I walk. I am not a "pilgrim" in that sense.
I believe that, in reality, there is actually nothing exceptional about the camino; nothing spiritual, magical or likely to teach me special "lessons." Let me clarify this in an important way: the camino is no MORE essentially spiritual, magical or giving of special insights than any other part of my life potentially is. The sense that the camino has this unique power is an illusion.
I love the natural and cultural beauty of the camino across northern Spain. Standing in a village, knowing about the colorful history that occurred on this spot centuries before, is thrilling. I cherish the conversations and time I share with other international walkers and especially with local Spanish people (whose ancestors often go back centuries in those villages). I am intrigued to be walking in the footsteps of pilgrims for over a thousand years. Traveling on foot, experiencing the gradual changes in the ecological zones; different climates, new flowers and unique birds, is amazing.
Lately, in preparation for returning to walk the camino (only five days from now), I've been taking long training hikes along the ancient acequias (water ditches) in my city. Some parts of my walk divert onto paved streets and, while standing at an intersection wearing my backpack, I watch the faces of people driving by. There is a common blank stare; drivers are reviewing where they just came from in the past ("When she did/said that, I should have said...") and thinking about where they are going next in the future ("I wonder if there will be dinner waiting for me at home. I need to be sure to put the trash bin out for the garbage man tomorrow" or even "five days from now I leave for Spain"). Past and future chatter. What a waste of our short lives on earth, while the PRESENT fleets by.
While I am walking the camino or - actually - whenever I am traveling in unfamiliar parts of the world or even hiking in the wilderness near my home, I find that I am much more open to all the magic and lessons that life teaches us. When I am going about my "routine" life, I often operate on auto-pilot and am dulled to these opportunities. It is something that I constantly try to fight. It's a shame, because our lives on earth are short and I feel like I waste a lot of time not being awake Right. Now.
The reason I feel compelled to walk the camino, and to travel, to climb mountains, and even to ride my motorcycle fast is that it is much easier to be PRESENT during these adventures.
Packing what I will carry with me (and not packing my fears) is a valuable Buddhist exercise. My biggest challenge is to stay present until I leave and especially to continue to do so after I come home from walking the camino.
Beiramar,For some of might even be the other way around.
I started my first Camino in 2011 in hope of finding something spiritual and deep.
I ended up discovering that HIKING is what I really love and what fulfills me.
Being in nature, feeling the power of the weather in the mountains and fitting everything that I need in my backpack.
Almost every year I still walk a part of a Camino in Spain or Portugal but with no specific expectations beyond good food and a lot of easy walking.
The power of the camino for me, or the magic of it if you will, is the fact that I recognised and felt that a lot of people were going (and have been going) to the same place as I was with the same intention.
This speaks to me the most, because with each day, that is what I spoke out loud, especially on my first Camino in 2012... and each day was a miracle. Nothing much changed in 2015 and this year... my mantra was the same... the "lessons" more challenging... almost as if the Camino kept telling me, you are no longer an infant on this ancient path... expect to handle more. Some days, I wished to time-travel back to 2012.... In the end, my Camino comes home with me and I continue on.Your prayer and my intent are fundamentally the same. For me it is about embracing and celebrating life. My prayer, or mantra or statement would read as: I am happy with today. I will try to walk with an open heart and an open mind and be ready.
Based on my experiences, I'd say that walkers with a conventional religious motivation are very much in the minority.Well done for 'coming out' by the way. Great post.
It makes me wonder how many people walking the various Caminos are 'non Pilgrims'.
Not that it bothers me of course. More the merrier. Unless I miss out on a bed
But I suspect 'Pilgrims' whatever 'they' are........and let's not start that debate........are probably in the minority.
Hi Rob - Sorry if this is too personal a question (and if so, please disregard) but after reading all the posts of this thread with interest I came back to yours with a great sense of curiousity about why you would think long walks anywhere else in the world would be a pointless exercise? While I do cherish the Camino experience I cannot walk it more than every few years if I'm lucky enough to get time away. I use this 'other' time to walk on various other paths and find that I still find much value to my inner well-being. No judgement of course, just an interesting point-of-view that you presented.I actually don't walk long distances anywhere else in the World. It would be a pointless exercise to me, with no purpose.
Hi Jill, they probably do.If people are free to express their religious and spiritual motivations for walking the Camino on this forum, others with different motivations should be free to express themselves too. My post was not intended to start a religious debate. I respect others' spiritual beliefs and I hope that they will respect my beliefs as well.
Wel said Sabine , I to find it difficult to write the proper words some times.@JillGat : I very much like your OP here and all of your responses. The reason I don't respond about the content is that my English fails me when I have to write down words where the details are so important.
To every other current and new poster here on this thread : would it not be wonderful and positive if we could all keep this thread not locked?
Call me naive but I think it is possible to have a good debate / interchange of ideas without
getting nasty.
So thank you again @JillGat
I'm not Christian.
But I definitely feel like a pilgrim, when I walk the Camino.
It's hard to explain, sometimes even to myself, so I don't really try. It''s mysterious.
I practice to be present here and now, and that happens lots of places - but the Camino has something extra that the heart recognizes even if the head can't quite wrap words around it.
The conditions that come together on the Camino are made to support for inner work.
It's everything: its history, the centuries of devotion that have happened as generations of pilgrims made their way to Santiago, the kindness and hospitality of people along the way, and the focused energy of so many faithful, now, before, and to come.
In itself, the camino is just another place. But we have collectively given it meaning that transcends that, and that to me is palpable, and different. It takes me out of myself like no-place else. And it's taught me spiritual lessons I couldn't have learned elsewhere.
So I keep coming back to see what else it has to teach, and to reveal.
But each of us walks for our own reasons. And there are as many intentions as there are peregrino/as.
What gives your Camino meaning is your truth, and you have fearlessly spoken it. No-one can challenge that and it doesn't have to look like mine.
So long as we can all (collectively) walk with respect and kindness for each other, all shall be well. Who knows? We might learn a thing or two in the process. Like how to get along in spite of differences.
It's a small lesson the world could use right now.
[Thank you, Jill, for a lovely and thought provoking thread!]
I am a Christian, but I am aware that is just a handy label for someone who is dedicated to what's really true. There are lots of people equally dedicated to what's really true. There are lots of ways to do that, lots of other labels and techniques and "paths," and I respect them.
Likewise, "pilgrim" and "camino" are also just handy labels for things that are just exactly what they are, with or without a name attached. People dedicated to what's really true often find one another in places like the Camino, places dedicated long ago to the search for what's true.
Truth unites us. Labels divide us.
And the truth lives inside each one of us. It's what drew most of us to walk this Way. We all are just traveling the road home. If we set aside our labels and egos and presumptions about others, we can walk there together in peace.
(Just don't let me see you leaving trash along the Way!)
For some of might even be the other way around. I started my first Camino in 2011 in hope of finding something spiritual and deep.
I ended up discovering that HIKING is what I really love and what fulfills me.
Being in nature, feeling the power of the weather in the mountains and fitting everything that I need in my backpack.
To repeat and paraphrase a discussion between the late Pope St. John Paul II and the Dalai Lama some 25 years ago...
In a witnessed conversation during their cordial meeting at the Vatican, the Dalai Lama inquired of Pope John Paul II, "is it true that you Catholics believe that only Catholics can get to Heaven?"
His Holiness is reported to have replied... "It is true that we teach that we must go through the Son to get to the Father in Heaven. Also true, is that our dogma does describe that as the truth. But, who am I to say? There are many paths up the mountain. We happen to believe and teach that ours is the most direct. However, that does not preclude the possibility of good people who believe differently from also arriving at the top of the mountain..."
The paraphrase is mine. Clearly, I was not present, so this is all second-hand. However, I believe this conversation is recounted in one or more books written about this popular Pope. Even if I got it wrong, the current Pontiff, Pope Francis, has reportedly said much the same thing, across a variety of issues related to faith. So, the point is clear. Catholics allow that there are other paths up the mountain leading to the "peak."
The point here is that all belief systems are welcomed on the Camino. Also true, people with no belief system, per se, are also welcome. IMHO, the critical thing for all pilgrims is mutual respect and understanding of one another's belief's.
I hope this helps.
Just now, your post gives me goosebumps, @JohnnieWalkerWe all walked the same road and when we got to Santiago Cathedral there was a place for
each of us. Every one.
Brilliant, a worship all of us can do!My partner doesn't believe but pays back into the Camino by pickling up litter lol.
Hi Rob - Sorry if this is too personal a question (and if so, please disregard) but after reading all the posts of this thread with interest I came back to yours with a great sense of curiousity about why you would think long walks anywhere else in the world would be a pointless exercise? While I do cherish the Camino experience I cannot walk it more than every few years if I'm lucky enough to get time away. I use this 'other' time to walk on various other paths and find that I still find much value to my inner well-being. No judgement of course, just an interesting point-of-view that you presented.
As the prophets say:
"It doesn't matter what you wear
Just as long as you are there!"
The Camino de Santiago. Be there.
Aloha.
Be there or be square.As the prophets say:
"It doesn't matter what you wear
Just as long as you are there!"
The Camino de Santiago. Be there.
Aloha.
A hui hou!The Camino de Santiago. Be there.
Aloha.
Distilling it all down, for me what makes the camino different is meaning.
I like the long answers, interesting perspectives and believe in never shooting the messenger! Thanks, Rob, I appreciate you taking the time to share these thoughts and the ideas that led to the words. Easy to see/read/feel you have found something in your life that is special and, rightly so, to be anticipated.And of the course the answer, (bit long, sorry) is purely my own weird perspectiveSo don't shoot me...
Hi @jozero
Sure. It's a good question.
And of the course the answer, (bit long, sorry) is purely my own weird perspectiveSo don't shoot me...
I occasionally go Bushwalking here at home, or closer to a Camino; training walks in our local park which is nice.
But that's it. They are 'nice' walks, nothing else. I wouldn't get up an hour early to do one before work, or take a day out from the office to go walking. They are just 'walks'....
But I have walked in other places. In Tasmania around Cradle Mountain. Many moons ago I walked often (because I had to as part of my training) in the hills of Wales, the Lake District in Northern England (in White Out Blizzards), the South Downs and many other places. Usually carrying a heavy load and moving fast. They were not pleasant experiences. Just necessary, to build fitness, survival skills, leadership skills or whatever.
So perhaps for me, and I hadn't thought of it this way till responding to your question, but perhaps for me walking/hiking was always part of my job? Not recreation. Who knows. That was all 3 & 4 decades ago.
So 'throw on a pack' and walk 500 miles through the Hills? Why? What's the point?
Then comes the Camino. I'll admit sparked by 'that' Movie. I had never heard of it till then.
This seemed like a journey with real purpose. This is not walking or hiking. For me, that's the last thing it is.
I think of it as 'meditation in motion'......
So what makes it different? What makes it not just a walk?
For me it's these:
So? Do I want to walk 'various other paths'? What do you think?
- There is a clear destination. The Tomb of St James. This is a big one for me. Not St James per se, but the clear destination. It's kind of a destination with a higher purpose if that makes sense. A 'worthy' goal.
- There is a clear purpose. For me it's to step out of my normal World, get closer to myself, get closer to my God....to challenge myself, physically, emotionally and spiritually. To grow in the process. To hopefully end a better person.
- Commitment. In me at least, walking the Camino instils a huge sense of commitment. Of not giving up. Of tackling any challenge that faces me. It's like I have made a 'promise' to a higher power, to reach Santiago no matter what. Although interestingly, whilst walking, Santiago is usually far from my thoughts. The day and the 'now' are my true focus. The journey really is the destination .... every day. I never really understood that before.
- There is a profound sense of History. Walking along those Roman roads I almost 'felt' the Pilgrims through the Ages walking before me. Felt their purpose, felt their hardships. It's hard not to.
- It's a Spiritual road in every sense. I stop in Churches every day. At least once. Just to sit quietly alone. To give thanks for my life and for being able to make the journey. To think of those who cannot make this journey. Those who have passed. I light candles for them. And to just listen... I should add that I'm not a 'formal' church goer or 'formal' Christian. I have no real interest in formalised religion as such. I don't really understand most of it. I call myself Spiritual rather than Religious. But in every Church along the Camino, I sense my God is with me. (And Yes he's that God in the Bible). He's at the roadside crosses, at the tops of the Hills when I stop to take in the view....
- The People. The local people who support the Pilgrims. And of course the other Pilgrims/Hikers. I mentioned to someone in a PM yesterday, I would rarely if ever talk about Religious matters with anyone, even on the Camino. Unless they opened the topic. So it is not any kind of Religious connection. It's just a 'human' connection. With dozens and hundreds of other people who have a similar 'sense' of purpose and intention, even though they are different purposes or intentions. We are all headed the same way, toward similar goals, with a common Spirit of Community and sharing.
I've found my emotional and spiritual 'high' and I'm now hooked....Substitutes don't really work for me.
So it's the combination of all of these things that draws me to the Camino. And the lack of most of them, in a local 'walk' that makes a local walk seem rather pointless.
Some might say I walk in a Dream World. That the Camino is not real. Just a fantasy.
That might be true. Certainly in 'their' minds.
I'll just keep walking in my Dream World then........ and they can walk in theirs
I wonder what defines a place as having power. It is not just religions that create sacred places. People and their cultural identity also do. Back home in Aotearoa the Maori people hold earth mother Papatuanuku as central to their moaritanga or identity. Recently the river Wanganui was given legal status as a living entity with personhood...
Hi @jozero
...So what makes it different? What makes it not just a walk?
Yes, I remember the flack that status got, almost as much as if Whanganui has an h in it. But for all that, float down that mighty river, look up at the punga clad banks and feel the power of the place, surely we are floating down between Papatuanukus thighs.
Pagans once walked westward guided by the Milky Way to Finestere, like wise Polynesian navigated by the southern cross to find home, stand at Cape Reinga, look out across the ocean and then tell me this place doesn't have spiritual power.
As the prophets say:
"It doesn't matter what you wear
Just as long as you are there!"
The Camino de Santiago. Be there.
Aloha.
They are just 'walks'
Wonderfully put.Hi @jozero
Sure. It's a good question.
And of the course the answer, (bit long, sorry) is purely my own weird perspectiveSo don't shoot me...
I occasionally go Bushwalking here at home, or closer to a Camino; training walks in our local park which is nice.
But that's it. They are 'nice' walks, nothing else. I wouldn't get up an hour early to do one before work, or take a day out from the office to go walking. They are just 'walks'....
But I have walked in other places. In Tasmania around Cradle Mountain. Many moons ago I walked often (because I had to as part of my training) in the hills of Wales, the Lake District in Northern England (in White Out Blizzards), the South Downs and many other places. Usually carrying a heavy load and moving fast. They were not pleasant experiences. Just necessary, to build fitness, survival skills, leadership skills or whatever.
So perhaps for me, and I hadn't thought of it this way till responding to your question, but perhaps for me walking/hiking was always part of my job? Not recreation. Who knows. That was all 3 & 4 decades ago.
So 'throw on a pack' and walk 500 miles through the Hills? Why? What's the point?
Then comes the Camino. I'll admit sparked by 'that' Movie. I had never heard of it till then.
This seemed like a journey with real purpose. This is not walking or hiking. For me, that's the last thing it is.
I think of it as 'meditation in motion'......
So what makes it different? What makes it not just a walk?
For me it's these:
So? Do I want to walk 'various other paths'? What do you think?
- There is a clear destination. The Tomb of St James. This is a big one for me. Not St James per se, but the clear destination. It's kind of a destination with a higher purpose if that makes sense. A 'worthy' goal.
- There is a clear purpose. For me it's to step out of my normal World, get closer to myself, get closer to my God....to challenge myself, physically, emotionally and spiritually. To grow in the process. To hopefully end a better person.
- Commitment. In me at least, walking the Camino instils a huge sense of commitment. Of not giving up. Of tackling any challenge that faces me. It's like I have made a 'promise' to a higher power, to reach Santiago no matter what. Although interestingly, whilst walking, Santiago is usually far from my thoughts. The day and the 'now' are my true focus. The journey really is the destination .... every day. I never really understood that before.
- There is a profound sense of History. Walking along those Roman roads I almost 'felt' the Pilgrims through the Ages walking before me. Felt their purpose, felt their hardships. It's hard not to.
- It's a Spiritual road in every sense. I stop in Churches every day. At least once. Just to sit quietly alone. To give thanks for my life and for being able to make the journey. To think of those who cannot make this journey. Those who have passed. I light candles for them. And to just listen... I should add that I'm not a 'formal' church goer or 'formal' Christian. I have no real interest in formalised religion as such. I don't really understand most of it. I call myself Spiritual rather than Religious. But in every Church along the Camino, I sense my God is with me. (And Yes he's that God in the Bible). He's at the roadside crosses, at the tops of the Hills when I stop to take in the view....
- The People. The local people who support the Pilgrims. And of course the other Pilgrims/Hikers. I mentioned to someone in a PM yesterday, I would rarely if ever talk about Religious matters with anyone, even on the Camino. Unless they opened the topic. So it is not any kind of Religious connection. It's just a 'human' connection. With dozens and hundreds of other people who have a similar 'sense' of purpose and intention, even though they are different purposes or intentions. We are all headed the same way, toward similar goals, with a common Spirit of Community and sharing.
I've found my emotional and spiritual 'high' and I'm now hooked....Substitutes don't really work for me.
So it's the combination of all of these things that draws me to the Camino. And the lack of most of them, in a local 'walk' that makes a local walk seem rather pointless.
Some might say I walk in a Dream World. That the Camino is not real. Just a fantasy.
That might be true. Certainly in 'their' minds.
I'll just keep walking in my Dream World then........ and they can walk in theirs
There is my confession, and now let me try to explain it. I respect and cheer on others' spiritual perspectives and experiences, walking the Camino de Santiago. All of your experiences and beliefs are as valid, real and true as mine are. So I hope you will allow me to share my personal view.
I am not a Christian. I do not believe that the bones of Jesus' apostle James are buried in Santiago de Compostela. This religious faith aspect of the historic Camino is meaningful to many people, but it's not why I walk. I am not a "pilgrim" in that sense.
I believe that, in reality, there is actually nothing exceptional about the camino; nothing spiritual, magical or likely to teach me special "lessons." Let me clarify this in an important way: the camino is no MORE essentially spiritual, magical or giving of special insights than any other part of my life potentially is. The sense that the camino has this unique power is an illusion.
I love the natural and cultural beauty of the camino across northern Spain. Standing in a village, knowing about the colorful history that occurred on this spot centuries before, is thrilling. I cherish the conversations and time I share with other international walkers and especially with local Spanish people (whose ancestors often go back centuries in those villages). I am intrigued to be walking in the footsteps of pilgrims for over a thousand years. Traveling on foot, experiencing the gradual changes in the ecological zones; different climates, new flowers and unique birds, is amazing.
Lately, in preparation for returning to walk the camino (only five days from now), I've been taking long training hikes along the ancient acequias (water ditches) in my city. Some parts of my walk divert onto paved streets and, while standing at an intersection wearing my backpack, I watch the faces of people driving by. There is a common blank stare; drivers are reviewing where they just came from in the past ("When she did/said that, I should have said...") and thinking about where they are going next in the future ("I wonder if there will be dinner waiting for me at home. I need to be sure to put the trash bin out for the garbage man tomorrow" or even "five days from now I leave for Spain"). Past and future chatter. What a waste of our short lives on earth, while the PRESENT fleets by.
While I am walking the camino or - actually - whenever I am traveling in unfamiliar parts of the world or even hiking in the wilderness near my home, I find that I am much more open to all the magic and lessons that life teaches us. When I am going about my "routine" life, I often operate on auto-pilot and am dulled to these opportunities. It is something that I constantly try to fight. It's a shame, because our lives on earth are short and I feel like I waste a lot of time not being awake Right. Now.
The reason I feel compelled to walk the camino, and to travel, to climb mountains, and even to ride my motorcycle fast is that it is much easier to be PRESENT during these adventures.
Packing what I will carry with me (and not packing my fears) is a valuable Buddhist exercise. My biggest challenge is to stay present until I leave and especially to continue to do so after I come home from walking the camino.
What is a "belief system"? I believe it to be the lens through which we view the world. We view the world through the perception of our individual "bag of experience". I see my "bag of experience" as the sum total of all of the events, feelings and occurrences which have made my life. I figuratively stuff these events into my bag and then perceive the world through the prism of this collection. As I age and experience more things, I discard things from the bag and add new things. In this, each of has a different "bag of experience". None of these bags are less valid or important to the individual than any other. People we are in close proximity to, in meaningful times, affect the contents of our "bag". Walking the Camino is definitely a meaningful time.
I am not a pure Christian, although this was my upbringing. I see the world through the experience of being exposed to a variety of religious beliefs and other person's experiences. I am, however, a very spiritual person and take great delight in wilderness, historical ethos and long distance walking. What makes the Camino different and meaningful for me, is that I walk it with Christians. The conversations and exposure to their belief in why they walk and what they are walking towards, is always a source of peace to me. I may even rearrange my "bag of experience"
Not going to debate, as this sometimes goes to places best not traveled... But, my use of words was NOT intended to preclude any set or system, of beliefs, or absence of same.
A person believes what they believes, or does not. It is not for me to judge...Camino Rule One. I accept and respect all beliefs, or absence of same.
I hope this clarifies...and helps.
Lovely poem,thank you for sharing.In line of all beautiful and uplifting comments here I like to post this link from Ecclesiastes ( also to be found in the Camino book I mentioned in an earlier post ).
Almost poetry ....
https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/ecclesiastes-31-8
In line of all beautiful and uplifting comments here I like to post this link from Ecclesiastes ( also to be found in the Camino book I mentioned in an earlier post ).
Almost poetry ....
https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/ecclesiastes-31-8
I sometimes dream of a situation that can’t possibly come true. I audaciously imagine that I have a chance to chat with Ecclesiastes, the author of that moving lament on the vanity of all human endeavors. I bow very deeply before him, because he is one of the greatest poets, for me at least. Then I grab his hand. “There’s nothing new under the sun”: that’s what you wrote, Ecclesiastes. But you yourself were new under the sun. And the poem you created is also new under the sun, since no one wrote it down before you. And all your readers are also new under the sun, since those who lived before you couldn’t read your poem. And that cypress under which you’re sitting hasn’t been growing since the dawn of time. It came into being by way of another cypress similar to yours, but not exactly the same.
Such a timeless and beautiful piece. Wislawa Szymborska had no problem removing the "almost".
Another way to think about the unbroken chain of Pilgrims who share an experience but for whom the journey is unique, from her Nobel lecture:
Beautiful. And if we are any indication (at least in this thread) it seems to be so." believers and non-believers rediscover the path of dialogue "
[[This line was a bit controversial for me, though: "The sense that the camino has this unique power is an illusion."]]
Let me re-frame this and just say that I hope every path you walk in your life might be as sacred as the camino. Let everyone in your life be as easy to love as the one you just met over a cafe con leche.
There is my confession, and now let me try to explain it. I respect and cheer on others' spiritual perspectives and experiences, walking the Camino de Santiago. All of your experiences and beliefs are as valid, real and true as mine are. So I hope you will allow me to share my personal view.
I am not a Christian. I do not believe that the bones of Jesus' apostle James are buried in Santiago de Compostela. This religious faith aspect of the historic Camino is meaningful to many people, but it's not why I walk. I am not a "pilgrim" in that sense.
I believe that, in reality, there is actually nothing exceptional about the camino; nothing spiritual, magical or likely to teach me special "lessons." Let me clarify this in an important way: the camino is no MORE essentially spiritual, magical or giving of special insights than any other part of my life potentially is. The sense that the camino has this unique power is an illusion.
I love the natural and cultural beauty of the camino across northern Spain. Standing in a village, knowing about the colorful history that occurred on this spot centuries before, is thrilling. I cherish the conversations and time I share with other international walkers and especially with local Spanish people (whose ancestors often go back centuries in those villages). I am intrigued to be walking in the footsteps of pilgrims for over a thousand years. Traveling on foot, experiencing the gradual changes in the ecological zones; different climates, new flowers and unique birds, is amazing.
Lately, in preparation for returning to walk the camino (only five days from now), I've been taking long training hikes along the ancient acequias (water ditches) in my city. Some parts of my walk divert onto paved streets and, while standing at an intersection wearing my backpack, I watch the faces of people driving by. There is a common blank stare; drivers are reviewing where they just came from in the past ("When she did/said that, I should have said...") and thinking about where they are going next in the future ("I wonder if there will be dinner waiting for me at home. I need to be sure to put the trash bin out for the garbage man tomorrow" or even "five days from now I leave for Spain"). Past and future chatter. What a waste of our short lives on earth, while the PRESENT fleets by.
While I am walking the camino or - actually - whenever I am traveling in unfamiliar parts of the world or even hiking in the wilderness near my home, I find that I am much more open to all the magic and lessons that life teaches us. When I am going about my "routine" life, I often operate on auto-pilot and am dulled to these opportunities. It is something that I constantly try to fight. It's a shame, because our lives on earth are short and I feel like I waste a lot of time not being awake Right. Now.
The reason I feel compelled to walk the camino, and to travel, to climb mountains, and even to ride my motorcycle fast is that it is much easier to be PRESENT during these adventures.
Packing what I will carry with me (and not packing my fears) is a valuable Buddhist exercise. My biggest challenge is to stay present until I leave and especially to continue to do so after I come home from walking the camino.
I have absolutely no idea if I am a camino pilgrim or not . . . . can I let you know after a few more caminos when I have worked it out?
Jill
Definitely.Sure there ARE anecdotes of people doing incredibly generous things on the Camino, and there IS a tremendous communal spirit, but it can be just a little over-romanticised on occasion.
Definitely.
We have to take care of ourselves, and figure out how to navigate life in this world.
That's a journey in itself. and we think it's not spiritual or a pilgrimage, but it is.
An old joke I won't repeat pokes fun at our tendency to look outside for help, when we need to hold the reins of our lives instead. How this relates to the OP? Well, I may be going off track a little, but the journey definitely teaches how to be completely here now and to be responsive to that, which is one of the things that you so clearly articulated, Jill.
I feel as though I may have offended you and, believe me, that was not my intent. Please accept my apologies and wishing you a heartfelt Buen Camino, as you are on Your Way shortly. Have a wonderful trip!
Hmmm...but did you think that, Jill? Just asking.I thought for a second I could rationalize it, saying I felt "compelled for spiritual reasons" to do this walk again and then realized immediately that he wouldn't fall for that for a second.
hmmm... if may i ask, for such distance of walk doesn't bring you any at all? (i mean like joy what you see along the way)
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