- Time of past OR future Camino
- Too many to count!
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as George Mallory so famously said: "Because its there"
My sentiments exactly.I don't overthink it. I just like being in Spain with the pilgrims, the scenery, the food, and the exercise.
Love this quote @mspath! I shall use it!Why do I do this? My laconic answer is from Pascal's Pensées "le cœur a ses raisons que la raison ne connaît pas/ the heart has its reasons, of which reason knows nothing."
Why do I go on Pilgrimage?
Because while I'm walking a Camino route I have a sense of being 'home'. In a place that feels 'right', a place that makes sense, a place where I feel alive. It seems that this is how our lives should be lived. In simplicity, amongst nature, in the company of good people, away from the crazy distractions of our World and closer to our God or Spiritual heart.
Above all...........to just be.
Being 'home' and 'working' is perhaps something that fills the void between Pilgrimages....
The 'trick' of course, IMHO, is how to make ones life at 'home', one long Pilgrimage. Perhaps that takes a few Caminos?
Quite a few........I hope.
Why do I go on Pilgrimage?
Because while I'm walking a Camino route I have a sense of being 'home'. In a place that feels 'right', a place that makes sense, a place where I feel alive. It seems that this is how our lives should be lived. In simplicity, amongst nature, in the company of good people, away from the crazy distractions of our World and closer to our God or Spiritual heart.
Above all...........to just be.
Being 'home' and 'working' is perhaps something that fills the void between Pilgrimages....
The 'trick' of course, IMHO, is how to make ones life at 'home', one long Pilgrimage. Perhaps that takes a few Caminos?
Quite a few........I hope.
Deep winter has arrived in the southern mountains of Colorado where I live. I am longing for spring and the Camino that I have planned from Lisbon to SDC with my husband. Being holed up inside for several days has created a contemplative heart.
I am asking the question: What is a pilgrimage and why do people go on them??
Here is an excerpt from my article:
"I have often wondered, what is a pilgrimage and why does the whole concept continue to draw me so? I ponder, why do people make pilgrimages? What is it about walking long distances to a sacred site that is so appealing to so many people, myself included?
“Faith is not the clinging to a shrine but an endless pilgrimage of the heart.” ~ Abraham Joshua Heschel
There are many reasons given why people chose to go on pilgrimage, from the secular to the sacred. Many people can't even verbalize why it draws them, they just know that it is so. The Mystery is indeed difficult to explain, isn't it? The stirring and the longing is there and we don't really know why. But we know we must go, and find out. "
To read the rest of my musings, click on the link: http://www.pilgrimagetraveler.com/what-is-a-pilgrimage.html.
And as George Mallory so famously said:
"Because it's there."
And because I can.
Ah, but are you on a pilgrimge, or just on a pilgrame route?I don't overthink it. I just like being in Spain with the pilgrims, the scenery, the food, and the exercise.
Lovely quote, and for me perhpas quite close to why I walk the Caminos: the challenge, the adventure (although quite low adrenaline in Spain), but I don't think I get "sheer joy" out of it, as for me it is more of an execrice discipline, a rigour I impose of myself, to make up for the rest of my months of lazyness inbetween Caminos. For "sheer joy" I have my weeks on a scubadiving boat away from civilisation, discovering the marvels Mother Nature offers.Another Mallory quote.
"So, if you cannot understand that there is something in man which responds to the challenge of this mountain and goes out to meet it, that the struggle is the struggle of life itself upward and forever upward, then you won’t see why we go. What we get from this adventure is just sheer joy. And joy is, after all, the end of life. We do not live to eat and make money. We eat and make money to be able to enjoy life. That is what life means and what life is for.”
Substitute pilgrimage for mountain and it makes perfect sense to me.
Like most of us repeaters, I became positively addicted after my first Camino. It changed my life and when I am home, I start counting the days until I return.
Recently, I finally realized that being happier on the Camino then I am at home was not emotionally healthy. I was very happy on the Camino and just happy at home. So my focus is to live at home like I am on the Camino as much as possible. That means a more simple life that includes a long walk most every day. Leaving the car at home, walking into town for dinner and shopping. Saying hello to people passing on the street.
The Camino put a need to be more kind in my heart. This kindness I now try to pass on to others.
I hope this makes some sense.
Buen Camino
Is it really "walking long distances to a sacred site" that is so appealing? Santiago seems to be a centre of strong attraction in this respect, but, surprisingly, Rome less so, Jerusalem even less and the same applies to Lourdes, one of the more recent sacred sites. Canterbury, Chartres, Tours, Cologne, Aachen, Einsiedeln seem to have lost their appeal as far as most long-distance foot pilgrims are concerned and who has even heard of Noblat or Wilsnack. Isn't that a bit odd, pilgrimage wise?
Nienke...Welcome to the Forum! You have given your reasons for walking the Way and many mirror those of other Forum members. What I suggest next is set a date!The reason I want to go on this (my first) pelgrimage is because I want to be close to nature and as connected as possible to myself and the world. I feel somewhat dissatisfied and lost in the current society I'm living in, which focusses - in my opinion - on material gaining in order to reach for happiness. I have the feeling that the Netherlands focusses too much on buying happiness and finding happiness outside of yourself. This doesn't seem right to me. I find a different, more sustainable form happiness within myself... by meditating and hiking (also meditative). Walking helps me to find peace within myself. I simply become a better person for myself and others when I've been in nature. I feel that I need to walk the Camino... But why? I don't know... faith? Perhaps, I'll 'walk' the answer instead of 'finding the answer'. Perhaps I'll figure out that there is no answer... I guess that I just want to do, get out of my mind of over-thinking. I just want to, BE, you know? If this all makes sense
Nienke...Welcome to the Forum! You have given your reasons for walking the Way and many mirror those of other Forum members. What I suggest next is set a date!
This one act will set in motion an entire raft of thoughts, actions and commitments as day by day the Camino moves from a thought to reality.
Buen Camino,
Arn
My first pilgrimage was in 2013.It was then very special for me.I was alone since 2008.But after that I was not alone everymore.It was great to meet people that just to want to talk about everything.After that year I walked the Primitivo and last year a part of the camino de la plata.Only at the Camino you met so nice peopleDeep winter has arrived in the southern mountains of Colorado where I live. I am longing for spring and the Camino that I have planned from Lisbon to SDC with my husband. Being holed up inside for several days has created a contemplative heart.
I am asking the question: What is a pilgrimage and why do people go on them??
Here is an excerpt from my article:
"I have often wondered, what is a pilgrimage and why does the whole concept continue to draw me so? I ponder, why do people make pilgrimages? What is it about walking long distances to a sacred site that is so appealing to so many people, myself included?
“Faith is not the clinging to a shrine but an endless pilgrimage of the heart.” ~ Abraham Joshua Heschel
There are many reasons given why people chose to go on pilgrimage, from the secular to the sacred. Many people can't even verbalize why it draws them, they just know that it is so. The Mystery is indeed difficult to explain, isn't it? The stirring and the longing is there and we don't really know why. But we know we must go, and find out. "
To read the rest of my musings, click on the link: http://www.pilgrimagetraveler.com/what-is-a-pilgrimage.html.
Deep winter has arrived in the southern mountains of Colorado where I live. I am longing for spring and the Camino that I have planned from Lisbon to SDC with my husband. Being holed up inside for several days has created a contemplative heart.
I am asking the question: What is a pilgrimage and why do people go on them??
Here is an excerpt from my article:
"I have often wondered, what is a pilgrimage and why does the whole concept continue to draw me so? I ponder, why do people make pilgrimages? What is it about walking long distances to a sacred site that is so appealing to so many people, myself included?
“Faith is not the clinging to a shrine but an endless pilgrimage of the heart.” ~ Abraham Joshua Heschel
There are many reasons given why people chose to go on pilgrimage, from the secular to the sacred. Many people can't even verbalize why it draws them, they just know that it is so. The Mystery is indeed difficult to explain, isn't it? The stirring and the longing is there and we don't really know why. But we know we must go, and find out. "
To read the rest of my musings, click on the link: http://www.pilgrimagetraveler.com/what-is-a-pilgrimage.html.
Deep winter has arrived in the southern mountains of Colorado where I live. I am longing for spring and the Camino that I have planned from Lisbon to SDC with my husband. Being holed up inside for several days has created a contemplative heart.
I am asking the question: What is a pilgrimage and why do people go on them??
Here is an excerpt from my article:
"I have often wondered, what is a pilgrimage and why does the whole concept continue to draw me so? I ponder, why do people make pilgrimages? What is it about walking long distances to a sacred site that is so appealing to so many people, myself included?
“Faith is not the clinging to a shrine but an endless pilgrimage of the heart.” ~ Abraham Joshua Heschel
There are many reasons given why people chose to go on pilgrimage, from the secular to the sacred. Many people can't even verbalize why it draws them, they just know that it is so. The Mystery is indeed difficult to explain, isn't it? The stirring and the longing is there and we don't really know why. But we know we must go, and find out. "
To read the rest of my musings, click on the link: http://www.pilgrimagetraveler.com/what-is-a-pilgrimage.html.
Ken, I wish you many happy returns.I have walked parts of the Camino Frances and the Camino Portuguese three times. I do it for historical reasons. I have an abiding sense of history and the trials and travails of so many people in the past who did the same thing. I look at the stones on which my feet tread, and try and imagine all the other feet which went ahead of me; what the people thought; what were their hopes and fears. I am 78 this year and hope to do at least one more and perhaps two trips on the Camino. It is a truly wonderful experience.
Ken, I wish you many happy returns.
I also keep thinking about those whose footsteps I am walking in. Their thoughts, purpose, lives. The Camino is one of thefew places that ties you right back into the past.
As for your age... I met an Italian gentleman on the Primitivo who told me that would be his last one. I asked why, not understanding why. He said he was 84. He did not look a day over 60 to me. Also, on my first Camino I walked with an Austrian man who was on his 9th Frances in 10 years, at the tender age of 79.
Do you think the Camino may be the Fountain of youth? I certainly hope it is for you. And me.
It was several years ago now..that my daughter said this: "Dad, I have always loved you...but I didn't like you. Since you've rekindled your Catholic faith and completed the Camino; I not only love you...I like you a lot!"I find myself in a different place after walking for 3 or 4 days. I don't know why. I have found that my faith in God and my identity as a Christian/Catholic has increased during and after the camino. -- There is a desire to be walking again, moving with others towards... towards Christ I think.
I am a research historian and am always looking for additional items to round out my library. I am interested as to whether Dillion did his own research. I have just purchased his book.@KenMullen, I love your answer! On the Primitivo, the "original way" I felt so drawn to the pilgrims of the past that I am now reading a book called "Walking the Middle Ages on the Camino de Santiago, The History Behind the Way," by Harry Dillon. I am thoroughly enjoying it! Knowing the history brings so much more depth to the experience, IMHO!
@Arn, I do not know. I couldn't find any info in the book index itself.I am a research historian and am always looking for additional items to round out my library. I am interested as to whether Dillion did his own research. I have just purchased his book.
Thanks Ellie
Not to worry...if compelling...I should finish by morning. Thank you.@Arn, I do not know. I couldn't find any info in the book index itself.
Bonsoir Ken, et merci pour vos bons mots.Merci Anenome pour vos sentiments. Moi aussi, sur mon premier camino, il y a 15 ans, j'ai rencontré un homme d'environ 84 ans. Cette année je vais y aller avec ma fille ainée (la premiere fois pour elle). Peut-être vous avez raison et qu'il est la fontaine de jouvence. Avez vous les plans pour y aller dans l'avenir? Bonne chance et encore merci!!
IMHO, you are very close to the true pilgrim spirit. You are going to have a great time walking the Camino. The Camino is answering many questions relevant to yours; just give it some time...The reason I want to go on this (my first) pelgrimage is because I want to be close to nature and as connected as possible to myself and the world. I feel somewhat dissatisfied and lost in the current society I'm living in, which focusses - in my opinion - on material gaining in order to reach for happiness. I have the feeling that the Netherlands focusses too much on buying happiness and finding happiness outside of yourself. This doesn't seem right to me. I find a different, more sustainable form happiness within myself... by meditating and hiking (also meditative). Walking helps me to find peace within myself. I simply become a better person for myself and others when I've been in nature. I feel that I need to walk the Camino... But why? I don't know... faith? Perhaps, I'll 'walk' the answer instead of 'finding the answer'. Perhaps I'll figure out that there is no answer... I guess that I just want to do, get out of my mind of over-thinking. I just want to, BE, you know? If this all makes sense
I think the infrastructure on the CF has a lot to do with how popular it is. Where else in the world can you walk for 800km and get amazing scenery, a meal and a bed every 5 to 8 km. Plus great wine and good food if you avoid the pilgrim menu. I will be back!Is it really "walking long distances to a sacred site" that is so appealing? Santiago seems to be a centre of strong attraction in this respect, but, surprisingly, Rome less so, Jerusalem even less and the same applies to Lourdes, one of the more recent sacred sites. Canterbury, Chartres, Tours, Cologne, Aachen, Einsiedeln seem to have lost their appeal as far as most long-distance foot pilgrims are concerned and who has even heard of Noblat or Wilsnack. Isn't that a bit odd, pilgrimage wise?
Queen..."It's Kind of Magic"I agree with what already has been said and love the eloquence of so many of the words. The words that keep coming into my mind when I go back to walk are - it's like coming home, the place I feel most myself and the place I keep meeting people who have a message for my heart.
Also to take a line from a song whose title I have forgotten (!) - "it's a kind of magic"
@KenMullen, I love your answer! On the Primitivo, the "original way" I felt so drawn to the pilgrims of the past that I am now reading a book called "Walking the Middle Ages on the Camino de Santiago, The History Behind the Way," by Harry Dillon. I am thoroughly enjoying it! Knowing the history brings so much more depth to the experience, IMHO!
Ellie...I started the book and the introduction lays out a framework for how Dillon went about his research. I read through to Chapter Two and look forward to finishing the book. Thanks.I am a research historian and am always looking for additional items to round out my library. I am interested as to whether Dillion did his own research. I have just purchased his book.
Thanks Ellie
I also keep thinking about those whose footsteps I am walking in. Their thoughts, purpose, lives. The Camino is one of the few places that ties you right back into the past.
I have an abiding sense of history and the trials and travails of so many people in the past who did the same thing. I look at the stones on which my feet tread, and try and imagine all the other feet which went ahead of me; what the people thought; what were their hopes and fears.
What we get from this adventure is just sheer joy. And joy is, after all, the end of life. We do not live to eat and make money. We eat and make money to be able to enjoy life. That is what life means and what life is for.”
Recently, I finally realized that being happier on the Camino then I am at home was not emotionally healthy. I was very happy on the Camino and just happy at home. So my focus is to live at home like I am on the Camino as much as possible. That means a more simple life that includes a long walk most every day. Leaving the car at home, walking into town for dinner and shopping. Saying hello to people passing on the street.
Because while I'm walking a Camino route I have a sense of being 'home'. In a place that feels 'right', a place that makes sense, a place where I feel alive. It seems that this is how our lives should be lived. In simplicity, amongst nature, in the company of good people, away from the crazy distractions of our World and closer to our God or Spiritual heart.
It's like coming home, the place I feel most myself and the place I keep meeting people who have a message for my heart.
Also to take a line from a song whose title I have forgotten (!) - "it's a kind of magic"
Of course, one of my favourite bands!! Thank you.Queen..."It's Kind of Magic"
Except it runs more north-south! Maybe they got lost a lot...who followed the stars of the Milky Way to the west
@kelleymac, thank-you for the great tip. Sounds like a must-read for me!You may like "The Pilgrimage Road to Santiago" by Gitlitz, and Davidson. It was first published in 1974 and it's last update was 1996. Gitlitz and Davidson are professors who walked the Camino with their students. The book has information on history, art, and maps too. I downloaded it onto my kindle and read it as I walked.
Great Quote @Wokabaut_Meri! I love it and will use it in future musings.To echo previous posts...
I love to walk - it's akin to Coming Home to myself and, for me, each walk is a pilgrimage, a form of poetry in motion... each destination sacred... a journey where every step has meaning and purpose... and gifts in abundance - even if they don't seem quite that at the time...
I tracked down an article in the New Yorker September 1, 2014 Issue that resonated for me years ago on how/why/what walking becomes pilgrimage for me:
HEAVEN’S GAITS
What we do when we walk
Adam Gopnik
Contemplative walking is Gros’s favored kind: the walking of medieval pilgrims, of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Henry David Thoreau, of Kant’s daily life. It is the Western equivalent of what Asians accomplish by sitting. Walking is the Western form of meditation: “You’re doing nothing when you walk, nothing but walking. But having nothing to do but walk makes it possible to recover the pure sensation of being, to rediscover the simple joy of existing, the joy that permeates the whole of childhood.” There’s a reason, Gros suggests, that a dominant school of philosophy in the ancient world, revived in the medieval, was called the “peripatetic.” In Raphael’s great fresco of assembled ancient philosophers, conventionally called “The School of Athens,” Plato and Aristotle are shown upright and in movement, peripatetic even when fixed in place by paint, advancing toward the other philosophers rather than enthroned above them. Movement and mind are linked in Western thought.
@Kathar1na, I just stumbled on the book when I did a Google search on the history of the Camino. Totally random.Thank you for mentioning this recent e-book (how did you discover it?). Although it costs less than 5 EUR, I hesitated to purchase it at first, having spotted a mistake in the author's blog (he equates chapter V of the Codex Calixtinus with the whole Codex, a frequent mistake in popular Camino literature). But my curiosity got the better of me and I've now read the beginning and end and a few of the first chapters of this book - I'm a slow reader. I spotted a few more factual mistakes and one or two things where I have doubts (did pilgrims really sleep in the triforium?) but they are minor errors, and I am looking forward to reading more chapters. Very well written, the author is an experienced Australian journalist. In particular, I like it that he aims to explain how different the medieval world and mindset is in many respects in comparison to today's and I am most intrigued by his (critical?) comments on many of the current common perceptions of the New Camino, as he terms it. I find myself in broad agreement ...
Because I can! There will come a day when you can't, so do it NOW!
The reason I want to go on this (my first) pelgrimage is because I want to be close to nature and as connected as possible to myself and the world. I feel somewhat dissatisfied and lost in the current society I'm living in, which focusses - in my opinion - on material gaining in order to reach for happiness. I have the feeling that the Netherlands focusses too much on buying happiness and finding happiness outside of yourself. This doesn't seem right to me. I find a different, more sustainable form happiness within myself... by meditating and hiking (also meditative). Walking helps me to find peace within myself. I simply become a better person for myself and others when I've been in nature. I feel that I need to walk the Camino... But why? I don't know... faith? Perhaps, I'll 'walk' the answer instead of 'finding the answer'. Perhaps I'll figure out that there is no answer... I guess that I just want to do, get out of my mind of over-thinking. I just want to, BE, you know? If this all makes sense
Well said, my take exactly. Had a great time and ready to go back.I don't overthink it. I just like being in Spain with the pilgrims, the scenery, the food, and the exercise.
Yes, an old thread for an ongoing issue! I, the creator of the thread was surprised to see it come up again. Or maybe not...Interesting to note that this is a very old thread from January of 2017.
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