Resonance

[Aspi]

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Two summers ago I walked from Roncesvalles to Rome (well, from LePuy en Velay to St Michel de Maurienne I took the Blablacar service).

The pilgrimage was a wonderful box for my interiority to resonate in that open space of the European noon.

I remember going through the Aubrac plateau whistling the melody of a Mozart concerto, in a mediocre but enthusiastic way, and discovering an unfathomable dimension in it only because the silence of the fields seemed to be listening to me.

I remember an afternoon near Auvillar when the tall grasses along the road, with their graceful dedication, seemed to be echoes of an old inner voice, drowned since adolescence, and that now, at 51 years old, seemed to re-emerge.

I remember that the old wisdom accumulated by centuries of civilization in France and Italy, immanent in a cheese, in the stones of an old bridge or mill, in a gesture of kindness or in a turn of the language was insufferably painful and beautiful at the same time because I realized that everything in my land is being left aside.

I remember that when I arrived in Rome, and went to see the Vatican museums, the splendor of the bodies of Michelangelo in the vault of the Sistine Chapel unexpectedly resolved one of the central tensions in my life, that of harmony of the sensual and spiritual.

When I made this pilgrimage to Rome, I already knew it, although only intuitively: already my first Camino de Santiago, in 1995, had been very fertile in resonance learning. I had finished my university studies in linguistics and literature, but only in the silence of Palencia did I realize that language had another dimension, another ferment, and thus, someone who came from an atheist culture discovered the greatness of religious prayer.

It was this past year, when I came across the work of the German thinker H.Rosa, that I explicitly realized that resonance is a key concept to understand what happens on a pilgrimage, and by contrast, what that does NOT happen in our daily lives, or at least what is almost impossible to happen as we have life set up in the West today. And what does this impossibility consist of? Ahhh, suspense hahaha! I suggest you read H.Rosa, but for now, I would like someone else to tell here the “resonant” experiences of him as a pilgrim.
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[Anne&Pat]

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Two summers ago I walked from Roncesvalles to Rome (well, from LePuy en Velay to St Michel de Maurienne I took the Blablacar service).

The pilgrimage was a wonderful box for my interiority to resonate in that open space of the European noon.

I remember going through the Aubrac plateau whistling the melody of a Mozart concerto, in a mediocre but enthusiastic way, and discovering an unfathomable dimension in it only because the silence of the fields seemed to be listening to me.

I remember an afternoon near Auvillar when the tall grasses along the road, with their graceful dedication, seemed to be echoes of an old inner voice, drowned since adolescence, and that now, at 51 years old, seemed to re-emerge.

I remember that the old wisdom accumulated by centuries of civilization in France and Italy, immanent in a cheese, in the stones of an old bridge or mill, in a gesture of kindness or in a turn of the language was insufferably painful and beautiful at the same time because I realized that everything in my land is being left aside.

I remember that when I arrived in Rome, and went to see the Vatican museums, the splendor of the bodies of Michelangelo in the vault of the Sistine Chapel unexpectedly resolved one of the central tensions in my life, that of harmony of the sensual and spiritual.

When I made this pilgrimage to Rome, I already knew it, although only intuitively: already my first Camino de Santiago, in 1995, had been very fertile in resonance learning. I had finished my university studies in linguistics and literature, but only in the silence of Palencia did I realize that language had another dimension, another ferment, and thus, someone who came from an atheist culture discovered the greatness of religious prayer.

It was this past year, when I came across the work of the German thinker H.Rosa, that I explicitly realized that resonance is a key concept to understand what happens on a pilgrimage, and by contrast, what that does NOT happen in our daily lives, or at least what is almost impossible to happen as we have life set up in the West today. And what does this impossibility consist of? Ahhh, suspense hahaha! I suggest you read H.Rosa, but for now, I would like someone else to tell here the “resonant” experiences of him as a pilgrim.
.

Thank you very much for your very powerful, personal insightful post. Everything you have said struck a strong chord with our experience on our Caminos.
Buen Camino,
Anne & Pat

 

[Anne&Pat]

We have walked four Caminos, if you count walking to Finisterre and Muxia. We were 60 and 61 when we did our first one in 2014, the Frances from St Jean to Santiago. Not having done any long distance walking before this, I, Anne, found it a very physically demanding experience, which got easier as we walked on the Way. Then in 2018 we walked the Camino del Norte from Irun to Santiago, then onto Finisterre and Muxia. Again, in the first week or so I, Anne, wondered what I had let myself in for but again it got easier as we walked. But of the many wonderful interactions we had with other people on our Caminos, two stand out.
The first on the Frances, walking our longest day of 28/29kms to Ages, we walked with an Irish man whom we had just met that day. It was a long hot walk that day but walking with John helped both of us reach our destination without too much difficulty and we had great conversation along the way, walking through amazing countryside and passed the memorial to the fallen Monumento de los Caidos from the Civil War. This day certainly resonated with us and marked a real experience of being a pilgrim and developing amazing relationships with complete strangers. We walked again with John and also managed to meet up with him in Dublin before flying back to Australia.

The second experience was on the Norte, we were very fortunate to meet the four Madrilleros! Three men and one of the men’s sister all from Madrid , walking for a week on the Norte. We met them before Gernika and walked with them a bit for quite a few days. They didn’t speak any English and our Spanish is not great but we still managed to have good and meaningful dialogues. They were fantastic people, who constantly tried to inspire me, Anne, to keep going. They would often call Anima and Ultreia to me to encourage me up one of the many ascents that occur on the Norte.
These experiences along with countless others with complete strangers certainly were a large part of what being a pilgrim was for us.

Thank you again for this interesting thread.
We managed to find some words of Hartmut Rosa when he was asked questions when talking to the Institute Francaise in February, 2021. Also very interesting, especially regarding the effects of the Pandemic on people and society.
Best wishes,
Anne & Pat

 

[VNwalking]

Thank you Aspi, for this thread!
The resonance of unity in the middle of a day of walking, everything just as it is...legs and body doing the work of carrying, heart and mind open, receptive, awake, just here moment to moment. Deep listening happens then, internally and externally - with all things arising out of a profound stillness and merging back into it.

It was this past year, when I came across the work of the German thinker H.Rosa, that I explicitly realized that resonance is a key concept to understand what happens on a pilgrimage, and by contrast, what that does NOT happen in our daily lives, or at least what is almost impossible to happen as we have life set up in the West

I was with you all the way until the last part, @Aspi. I would say difficult, yes, but absolutely not impossible. Who says one has to completely buy into the materialistic game? A simple life devoted to what is important is deeply resonant. And that can be had anywhere.

I find that same presence and resonance off the camino, in the garden, washing dishes, walking, watching the birds who visit the tree outside my window...there are many small everyday windows into what I think of as 'camino mind,' where anything can be active harmony and prayer. But resonance is as good a shorthand as any.

 

[Peregrinopaul]

It was this past year, when I came across the work of the German thinker H.Rosa, that I explicitly realized that resonance is a key concept to understand what happens on a pilgrimage, and by contrast, what that does NOT happen in our daily lives.....

A fascinating post, @Aspi, which prompted me - ironically in this context - to immediately google H Rosa. It took a bit of sifting through the search results, but I found this enlightening Ted Talk.

 

[Becky 59]

Interesting Ted talk, the part where he talks about resonance is just the last 3 minutes. I like the word “resonance “ to describe that feeling of deep connection and harmony with our surroundings, and definitely recall moments walking on Camino with an incredible feeling of peace.

 

[Aspi]

Thank you Aspi, for this thread!
The resonance of unity in the middle of a day of walking, everything just as it is...legs and body doing the work of carrying, heart and mind open, receptive, awake, just here moment to moment. Deep listening happens then, internally and externally - with all things arising out of a profound stillness and merging back into it.


I was with you all the way until the last part, @Aspi. I would say difficult, yes, but absolutely not impossible. Who says one has to completely buy into the materialistic game? A simple life devoted to what is important is deeply resonant. And that can be had anywhere.

I find that same presence and resonance off the camino, in the garden, washing dishes, walking, watching the birds who visit the tree outside my window...there are many small everyday windows into what I think of as 'camino mind,' where anything can be active harmony and prayer. But resonance is as good a shorthand as any.

Thank you Aspi, for this thread!
The resonance of unity in the middle of a day of walking, everything just as it is...legs and body doing the work of carrying, heart and mind open, receptive, awake, just here moment to moment. Deep listening happens then, internally and externally - with all things arising out of a profound stillness and merging back into it.


I was with you all the way until the last part, @Aspi. I would say difficult, yes, but absolutely not impossible. Who says one has to completely buy into the materialistic game? A simple life devoted to what is important is deeply resonant. And that can be had anywhere.

I find that same presence and resonance off the camino, in the garden, washing dishes, walking, watching the birds who visit the tree outside my window...there are many small everyday windows into what I think of as 'camino mind,' where anything can be active harmony and prayer. But resonance is as good a shorthand as any.

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Of course, I agree with you about "not buy the materialistic game".

I wrote "almost imposible" with my mind on the cacophony and speed of the urban life... For H.Rosa (or for Jung) the speed is specially dangerous, and that's why the slow walking becomes so pertinent: mind, body, lanscape/nature, relationship- or prayer, or just silence - resonating as a musical instrument. But surely pilgrimage is not the only one solution. I also love gardening quite as a "zen practice": "Flourish" is another good metaphore for what's going on the soul with those practices.
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