Is this the inner experience?

[David]

Hi all - here my ramblings again ..... pondering the actually rather rare life-changing "pilgrim experience" as I do, often actually ... I wonder .. ok, it doesn't happen to all, but some come to a realisation, a moment where all becomes clear, where they see reality as it is, not as they have been taught it is, and usually they burst into tears or burst out laughing, freely laughing, and they are changed ... and the truth is that once you have seen 'it', experienced 'it', there is no going back to who and what you were before - is how it is. I know someone who was met with this in a busy railway station, though it appears to have dropped away, others who just stopped for a moment, maybe to watch a kitten playing or birds flying across the sky, and there it was .... my 36 year old daughter recently had it on a holiday flight from her home in Dubai to Bulgaria, merely because the in-flight movies and sound were down and she looked out at the curve of the earth and for a time - there she was .... there she was .. totally unexpected, but there she was ..... and she wept throughout the flight, not with sadness but with a courageous happiness .....
Now, countless people throughout our history have tried to explain this realisation .. from a pithy few words .. Zen suddenness poems, Sufi stories, to long treatises - moderators this isn't 'religious' - and I have too, offered various fictional stories in the hope of explaining .. but I think Prince Ea, that good poet, that good man, that aware young man, might have just hit it on the head, nailed it in a pretty video ... what do you think??
Have you had this realisation during your pilgrimage? Just a random thought and random question ... all is well, all, is very well indeed

 

[SabsP]

Thank you!! @David. Nothing to add after this beautiful and thoughtful post.

 

[Csutak]

A big hug to you, David for your beautiful thoughts.
Yes!!! I (and many of us) know this feeling. I experienced it several times on different Caminos. First, in 2006 in Viana when on my arrival (completely exhausted) a window opened wide and I could hear a wonderful Spanish song. I guess it came from a radio but at that moment everything vanished around me except for this song as if it only had been waiting for me. I felt so grateful and delighted for having the chance to be there that tears started running down my cheeks. It was real catharsis. And the best thing is that now I am able to feel the same anywhere.

 

[OzAnnie]

David,
I love and understand the ‘we are one!’
We can experience this wonder anywhere in the world if we stop and think; however it is the special feeling I get moreso on the camino for some reason. Possibly because there are more people around who understand it.
Thankyou for sharing
Annie

 

[VNwalking]

Wonderful. There is nothing more to add. Just wonderful.

[And I just found another fantastic Prince Ea YouTube video, one that should be required viewing for anyone who is hesitating about walking, wondering 'should I?' 'can I?' or 'what if...?':

]

 

[nycwalking]

Life is wonderful!

Learned something new Prince Ea.

Thanks for post.

 

[JabbaPapa]

I'd say it's something different -- not fleeting and within the moment, those moments are more like stepping stones towards the inner life, or like yellow arrows of the Spirit pointing the way ; but the inner life is durable and always there, burning like a secret joy that never goes, not even in the midst of catastrophe or sadness or doubt.

The Camino can awaken it, but its home is within the soul, not on the Camino, not in the mind.

 

[Micah26]

I had my first of many “peak” or spiritual experiences when I was 5. I was standing on a hill over looking a river. I looked up into the night sky and felt very small and insignificant... a breath later I felt a part of all life and was filled with complete awe and joy. This experience has repeated itself time and again throughout my life. As I near the start of my first Camino I know I will most likely, at some time along the way, have another peak or spiritual awakening... If you open yourself to the possibilities... possibilities happen! Buen Camino

 

[Chicago Seeker]

I am wrestling with the emotions you are describing in your post right now. I am in the process of planning my camino and I found myself asking: "What is it that I am looking for?" Why do I feel so lost?" "Who am I? I'm hoping my journey will grant me the self-discovery I so desperately need. Thank you for sharing your timely post!

 

[hel&scott]

I don't think it's so much of you finding it,it finds you.

 

[josephmcclain]

Hi all - here my ramblings again ..... pondering the actually rather rare life-changing "pilgrim experience" as I do, often actually ... I wonder .. ok, it doesn't happen to all, but some come to a realisation, a moment where all becomes clear, where they see reality as it is, not as they have been taught it is, and usually they burst into tears or burst out laughing, freely laughing, and they are changed ... and the truth is that once you have seen 'it', experienced 'it', there is no going back to who and what you were before - is how it is. I know someone who was met with this in a busy railway station, though it appears to have dropped away, others who just stopped for a moment, maybe to watch a kitten playing or birds flying across the sky, and there it was .... my 36 year old daughter recently had it on a holiday flight from her home in Dubai to Bulgaria, merely because the in-flight movies and sound were down and she looked out at the curve of the earth and for a time - there she was .... there she was .. totally unexpected, but there she was ..... and she wept throughout the flight, not with sadness but with a courageous happiness .....
Now, countless people throughout our history have tried to explain this realisation .. from a pithy few words .. Zen suddenness poems, Sufi stories, to long treatises - moderators this isn't 'religious' - and I have too, offered various fictional stories in the hope of explaining .. but I think Prince Ea, that good poet, that good man, that aware young man, might have just hit it on the head, nailed it in a pretty video ... what do you think??
Have you had this realisation during your pilgrimage? Just a random thought and random question ... all is well, all, is very well indeed

This is amazing. YEs, yes, yes! Thanks so much for posting

 

[Leemac40]

Hi all - here my ramblings again ..... pondering the actually rather rare life-changing "pilgrim experience" as I do, often actually ... I wonder .. ok, it doesn't happen to all, but some come to a realisation, a moment where all becomes clear, where they see reality as it is, not as they have been taught it is, and usually they burst into tears or burst out laughing, freely laughing, and they are changed ... and the truth is that once you have seen 'it', experienced 'it', there is no going back to who and what you were before - is how it is. I know someone who was met with this in a busy railway station, though it appears to have dropped away, others who just stopped for a moment, maybe to watch a kitten playing or birds flying across the sky, and there it was .... my 36 year old daughter recently had it on a holiday flight from her home in Dubai to Bulgaria, merely because the in-flight movies and sound were down and she looked out at the curve of the earth and for a time - there she was .... there she was .. totally unexpected, but there she was ..... and she wept throughout the flight, not with sadness but with a courageous happiness .....
Now, countless people throughout our history have tried to explain this realisation .. from a pithy few words .. Zen suddenness poems, Sufi stories, to long treatises - moderators this isn't 'religious' - and I have too, offered various fictional stories in the hope of explaining .. but I think Prince Ea, that good poet, that good man, that aware young man, might have just hit it on the head, nailed it in a pretty video ... what do you think??
Have you had this realisation during your pilgrimage? Just a random thought and random question ... all is well, all, is very well indeed

This is my first camino, as the Prince Ea said I spent many years of should'a, could'a, would'a, last year I had health problems which ultimately resulted in reconsidering my life, time is short, here for a good time not a long time etc. I experienced many moments of that inner contentment, overwhelming moments triggered by small acts of kindness, nature's absolute beauty, observing life going on whilst in the solitary bubble of the camino! I found my happy place and hope to carry that inner peace back to reality..... If not I always have the camino to reconnect with it! Buen camino, the best!

 

[judy jackstadt]

Hi all - here my ramblings again ..... pondering the actually rather rare life-changing "pilgrim experience" as I do, often actually ... I wonder .. ok, it doesn't happen to all, but some come to a realisation, a moment where all becomes clear, where they see reality as it is, not as they have been taught it is, and usually they burst into tears or burst out laughing, freely laughing, and they are changed ... and the truth is that once you have seen 'it', experienced 'it', there is no going back to who and what you were before - is how it is. I know someone who was met with this in a busy railway station, though it appears to have dropped away, others who just stopped for a moment, maybe to watch a kitten playing or birds flying across the sky, and there it was .... my 36 year old daughter recently had it on a holiday flight from her home in Dubai to Bulgaria, merely because the in-flight movies and sound were down and she looked out at the curve of the earth and for a time - there she was .... there she was .. totally unexpected, but there she was ..... and she wept throughout the flight, not with sadness but with a courageous happiness .....
Now, countless people throughout our history have tried to explain this realisation .. from a pithy few words .. Zen suddenness poems, Sufi stories, to long treatises - moderators this isn't 'religious' - and I have too, offered various fictional stories in the hope of explaining .. but I think Prince Ea, that good poet, that good man, that aware young man, might have just hit it on the head, nailed it in a pretty video ... what do you think??
Have you had this realisation during your pilgrimage? Just a random thought and random question ... all is well, all, is very well indeed

Thank you for this beautiful and thought provoking post.

 

[dink56]

Hi all - here my ramblings again ..... pondering the actually rather rare life-changing "pilgrim experience" as I do, often actually ... I wonder .. ok, it doesn't happen to all, but some come to a realisation, a moment where all becomes clear, where they see reality as it is, not as they have been taught it is, and usually they burst into tears or burst out laughing, freely laughing, and they are changed ... and the truth is that once you have seen 'it', experienced 'it', there is no going back to who and what you were before - is how it is. I know someone who was met with this in a busy railway station, though it appears to have dropped away, others who just stopped for a moment, maybe to watch a kitten playing or birds flying across the sky, and there it was .... my 36 year old daughter recently had it on a holiday flight from her home in Dubai to Bulgaria, merely because the in-flight movies and sound were down and she looked out at the curve of the earth and for a time - there she was .... there she was .. totally unexpected, but there she was ..... and she wept throughout the flight, not with sadness but with a courageous happiness .....
Now, countless people throughout our history have tried to explain this realisation .. from a pithy few words .. Zen suddenness poems, Sufi stories, to long treatises - moderators this isn't 'religious' - and I have too, offered various fictional stories in the hope of explaining .. but I think Prince Ea, that good poet, that good man, that aware young man, might have just hit it on the head, nailed it in a pretty video ... what do you think??
Have you had this realisation during your pilgrimage? Just a random thought and random question ... all is well, all, is very well indeed

I love that you wrote this post and the attachment, I woke up feeling really flat this morning, something that is happening a bit too often lately, and reading and watching this has brought me to tears, but in a good way, it takes me back to the CF in 2014 where it became for me a very meditative experience, I am hopeful to get that same feeling again in a few weeks on the CP...........thanks again

 

[Storyteller Matt]

I embark on my first Camino, partial, in two months. But I had a similar moment of clarity almost three years ago hiking the 2.2-km Chemin de Nietzsche on the French Riviera. There was a moment of connection to my late father, who loved to hike, and an awareness of being in the moment, my every pretense of who and what I was now stripped away.

The irony is, up until that point, I hated hiking. I'm using the word hate here. Also, I approached the Chemin de Nietzsche with trepidation because I was 52, not in great shape, and I feared the midway moment on this very steep path where I would hit exhaustion or boredom and be "trapped," unable to go forward or back, no means of transport other than my feet.

I have no idea why I attempted to hike the Chemin de Nietzsche, given all of the above, but I did it, and I completed it. Two weeks later, I hiked the Chemin de La Turbie above Monaco. A year later, I came back and did them both again. Last March, I hiked up to the top of Murchison Falls in Uganda. On all hikes, I have felt the very real internal shift you speak of.

And now, the Camino. I wish I had time for the full walk, but I'm limited to a couple of weeks so I'm starting in Sarria, going to Santiago de Compostela, Finisterre, and Muxia. I'm 55 now... and for the first 52 years of my life I hated hiking.

What a long strange trip it's been