Dymphna Kim
New Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- May, 2013
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I got an image in my mind of Obama, Putin, Kim Jung and a few others walking along, having deep discussions about blisters, sore muscles and how better to share this world we live in, and then kicking back with a cerveza at the end of a long day.What the Camino means to me is a work in progress. I'm still thinking about it more than a year later. I do believe if we could get the leaders of the world to walk the Camino together, the world would be a better place.
Well said ... But I guess it happened at the right time, I was ready!Strange coincidence you asking this. I was last night reflecting on why I had walked in the first place, why I continue to do so and what the consequences have been. It has and continues to help me get closer to two people - God and myself. My friends have commented on the changes in me and I myself sense their continuing. Sometimes I wish I had encountered these experiences earlier in my life, but then again maybe there is a time and place for everything in one's life isn't there? We are all lucky that ours is now.
Or like mine in a lab in Birmingham University for medical research.The Camino ends in bones buried in a church, just as all of our lives end in bones buried in the earth, burned to ash, sunk to the bottom of the sea, or frozen in ice. It’s up to us to do what we will before it comes to that.
I was always taken aback when I was asked this sort of question on the camino, and I suppose I still am when someone who is a complete stranger starts a conversation on such a value laden topic. I found most meaning when I walked with fellow pilgrims who understood that being on pilgrimage was what was important, not our individual motivations for the journey.
This time a year ago, I vacillated between frantically planning and quietly anticipating my (first) camino. Now, approximately 10 months later I find little nuggets of memory or nostalgia or yearning and even wisdom where reflection resides. What the meaning of the camino is to me often reveals itself when I least expect it - when I'm more benevolent than I expect of myself, when I find understanding instead of judgement whether towards others or more often, myself. Last night on my very own back porch with a friend and my husband I found myself telling a story of an interaction with another while I walked last year.... my husband (dear that he is) said for the twentieth or so time that I should write down and share my experiences. I'm still exploring/recalling them as they to relate to my everyday life now. The camino continues to provide an internal launch-pad for insight and awareness as well as a warm, cuddly blanket for my spirit and soul.
The value/meaning continues to (delightfully) surprise me here and there with thoughts and reactions that I didn't possess or develop before and don't take for granted now. I could probably write a thick, cumbersome, and ego-heavy paper or book on what the camino means to me. I find that little flames of loving recall as well as little flames of feeling just absolutely perfect and content continue to shape what it meant and continues to mean to me.
I listen to birds ( and humans) with more attention, I give myself space to understand and reflect more generously, and maybe most importantly (to me) - I feel much more generous to the general human condition. Perhaps I've found comfort with a depth that is more profound (than pre-pilgrimage) and a lightness that is incredibly buoyant - I'm so incredibly humbled, and so incredibly grateful.
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