Why do YOU go on pilgrimage?

[Elle Bieling]

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.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

I don't overthink it. I just like being in Spain with the pilgrims, the scenery, the food, and the exercise.

 

[whariwharangi]

I'll steal a march from Star Trek: "To explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before."

And

'To boldly split infinitives that have never been split before" (Douglas Adams?)

And

as George Mallory so famously said: "Because its there"

 

[eviemonkey]

as George Mallory so famously said: "Because its there"

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.

 

[Saint Mike II]

@eviemonkey I don't think I could improve on that Mallory quote! It goes a long way to explain why I (at least) have chosen this activity next May.Cheers

 

[trecile]

I don't overthink it. I just like being in Spain with the pilgrims, the scenery, the food, and the exercise.

My sentiments exactly.

 

[mspath]

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."

 

[Jan_89]

My reason: Get out for a while. Leave everything at ''home'' - stress, work, relationships, family, friends and leave the typical stereo life.. Feel the freedom and travelling, meet some new faces and don't think, just go straight. Just LIVE on 200%!

 

[Robo]

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.

 

[Margaret Butterworth]

Because I can! There will come a day when you can't, so do it NOW!

 

[JabbaPapa]

Personal reasons, religious reasons (Catholic Christian), sports and psychological ones, and increasingly for health reasons, health permitting.

If I had to choose one reason above the others, because I was called there.

 

[Elle Bieling]

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."

Love this quote @mspath! I shall use it!

 

[Elle Bieling]

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.

@Robo, I love your thoughtful answer! For me, this is why the Camino is so addicting!

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

I saw it as a good walk.
Isn't there some sort of saying that conveys this thought?

 

[Elle Bieling]

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.

@Robo Here's a quote for you: "While some physical places and landscapes feel more like home to us, ultimately it is in service to us discovering the primal home within each one of us.What would it be like to move through the world and, no matter where you found yourself, to recognize yourself as fully at home?" ~ Christine Valters Paintner, The Soul of a Pilgrim: Eight Practices for the Journey Within

 

[Kitsambler]

Why? Because it calls to me. I cannot explain.

 

[Deleted member 12253]

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.

I like to walk. Am I a pilgrim? I am at peace on Camino so via de la plata for my spring walk this year. After 1000 km I might know the answer !!!

 

[MaryLynn]

And as George Mallory so famously said:
"Because it's there."


And because I can.

 

[Anemone del Camino]

I don't overthink it. I just like being in Spain with the pilgrims, the scenery, the food, and the exercise.

Ah, but are you on a pilgrimge, or just on a pilgrame route?

 

[Anemone del Camino]

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.

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.

I notice that the answers above are about why we like the Caminos, not pilgrimage. We like walking in Spain, not necessarily going on a pilgrimage. Do we feel a calling to climb the 300 steps of the Oratoire St-Joseph on our knees? Not me. What about walking towards the Virgen de Guadalupe basilica on our on knees? Not me. But I have always been clear about why I walk in Spain, as a tourist but respectuful of the fact that these are pilgrim routes and trying to behave as such. The only time I walked in a spiritual/pilgrimage spirit was the first time I walked, after my mother's passing as I was walking through her place of birth.

 

[Mark Lee]

When I learned of it, I knew I had to walk it. Now I just dig it. Brings me joy. Makes me healthier physically, religiously, mentally and spiritually.

 

[J F Gregory]

I walked to accompany my wife who had just had her knee replaced. But the walk opened something in me which I had misplaced, 'peace of heart'.

 

[Dennis D]

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

 

[movinmaggie]

Perhaps you will share the answer to your own question after you return. Wish you Buen Camino.

 

[Deleted member 36903]

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

Thank you Dennis D this makes perfect sense and I would triple 'like' your post if I could.

 

[alexwalker]

Why do YOU go on pilgrimage?

Since you ask: Because I can. I walk and enjoy/celebrate life in all its forms, spiritual as well as anything else. It will end soon enough.

 

[gerardcarey]

Hooray! Hooray! It's a holi-holi-day!
I sing because I'm filled with the joy of anticipation.
What better time can a traveller look forward to than to be on the road, on the train, on the plane?
What adventures there are in store!
What experiences there are to be had!
Christian I am not. Spiritual I am not.
Yet filled with the joy of life I am!
May I sing again? (even louder this time)
Hooray! Hooray! It's a holi-holi-day!

Regards
Gerard

 

[alexwalker]

: Do not worry too much. Just walk, and many answers will come your way.

Buen Camino!

 

[marbuck]

Because I like walking.

 

[SYates]

At least for me that is no one single reason, if I would have to sum it up, I would say:

To celebrate life, faith and thankfulness.

Buen Camino de la Vida, SY

 

[JabbaPapa]

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?

Even in the Middle Ages, the pilgrimage to Compostela was particular in this respect.

I don't know about Jerusalem, but being a foot pilgrim to Rome or to Lourdes is to be just one pilgrim among many, and no different to nor "better" than the bus, train, plane, or car pilgrims etc.

On the other hand, each Catholic pilgrimage has its particulars -- and as far as I can see, the two most striking particulars of the Camino are 1) that it has since the origins been equally welcoming of non-Catholics and non-Christians as of Catholic Christians, and 2) uniquely I think, there is a kind of physical spirituality in the hiking, the cycling, the riding -- the "praying with one's feet" -- that exists in all pilgrimages, but is overtly manifest in the Camino de Santiago

 

[Nienke91]

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

 

[Arn]

I walk...therefore I am!

 

[Arn]

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

 

[Nienke91]

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

Thanks for the suggestion! You're right! I've made the final decision just three days ago, I'm planning to leave mid-april (10th of april). As I want my walk to be part of my graduation at the University of Arts... I still need to convince the exam committee on the 6th of February that not conforming to their idea of graduating, but this walk is actually a fantastic idea to do I could use some good vibes on that day, to stand my ground!

 

[leicoppes]

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.

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 people

 

[KenMullen]

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.

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.

 

[Botaivica]

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.

Hi Elle

quote:

"Meaning you have to find in yourself, you must feel that Camino called you. I can only answer why I left. Because this is the greatest challenge and the last great adventures of our old continent. The challenge of faith. Faith in yourself. Faith in God. "

Andrew Bader, author of the beautiful Croatian pilgrim's guide called "Santiago de Compostela ".

Bota

 

[kelleymac]

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.

 

[Anemone del Camino]

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 .

 

[Elle Bieling]

@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!

 

[KenMullen]

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 .

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!!

 

[Elle Bieling]

@kelleymac, yes, this feels true to me too!

 

[Arn]

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.

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!"
Kelleymac...welcome back!

 

[Arn]

@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!

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

 

[Elle Bieling]

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

@Arn, I do not know. I couldn't find any info in the book index itself.

 

[Arn]

@Arn, I do not know. I couldn't find any info in the book index itself.

Not to worry...if compelling...I should finish by morning. Thank you.

 

[Anemone del Camino]

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!!

Bonsoir Ken, et merci pour vos bons mots.

But before we get scolded for not writing in English... I am toying with the idea of walking part of VdlP in the comming weeks, because I may have the time off and do not pay to walk in snow when I am surrounded by it here at home at the moment. Bit where my heart lies is the Salvador merging in a second primitivo.

If your daughter is walking with you this time then you know we have found the Fountain of Youth, as your heart will kee walking the Caminos as she walks them (she will het hooked, we all jnow that) even the day you no longer can.

What I would really like is to walk the Frances again with someone who knows its history, its architecture. Someone who can explain the significance of villages we walk through. Perhpas you can share some of that with your daughter.

 

[alexwalker]

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

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...

 

[jgpryde]

I've been asking myself the same question, louder and more frequently, as my planned launch date approaches. I noted in my profile that:

As prep for the inner journey, reading "wanderlust - A History of Walking" by Rebecca Solnit. Chp 2 "The mind at 3 Miles an hour".

This book has taken me outside of my own narrow view of walking and presented myriad other views, including basic anatomy, various forms (e.g. freedom marches, mazes and labyrinths, walkathons, etc.), and historical walkers. In ancient times, average people couldn't read but they could follow a story in iconography. Walks were designed with a sequence of artworks that individually told part of the story.

My takeaway is that I'm not just doing the walk. I'm there to learn a story. Partly that of the Camino, partly my own story. I'll figure it out along the way.

Thanks for asking.

-jgp

 

[marbuck]

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?

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!

 

[debra]

I go in search of peace that my life lacks. And I find it but I am unable to hold on to that peace for more than about 4 months so I go again.

 

[laineylainey]

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"

 

[Arn]

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"

Queen..."It's Kind of Magic"

 

[kelleymac]

@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!

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.

 

[Wokabaut_Meri]

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.

 

[Arn]

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

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.
Arn

 

[kaixo]

I have so many thoughts running thru my head but I will use the words of previous posters to help express my feelings.

To connect with my ancestors:

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.

To be happy:

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.

To be at peace:

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"

 

[laineylainey]

Queen..."It's Kind of Magic"

Of course, one of my favourite bands!! Thank you.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

who followed the stars of the Milky Way to the west

Except it runs more north-south! Maybe they got lost a lot...

 

[Kanga]

@falcon269 a bit of poetic license. Besides, I find it altogether too difficult to change now - I can't remember how to update that website. It has been static for years.

 

[Elle Bieling]

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.

@kelleymac, thank-you for the great tip. Sounds like a must-read for me!

 

[Elle Bieling]

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.

Great Quote @Wokabaut_Meri! I love it and will use it in future musings.

 

[Elle Bieling]

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 ...

@Kathar1na, I just stumbled on the book when I did a Google search on the history of the Camino. Totally random.

 

[nycwalking]

Because I can! There will come a day when you can't, so do it NOW!

... my sentiments. Caminos 2001, 2002, 2004 no problem: I could and did walk. Camino 2014: I walked, I fell, I sprained ankle, I fell some more, I stupidly limped along another 10 days until Padre Miguel Angel in Ponferrada sent me to Dr who quietly suggested I rest, I rested with protest, a pilgrim should struggle on even if they lose both legs and suffer decapitation, well, um, well, after rest, I walked to Fisterra. Camino 2016, a dream deferred, no could walk, 2015 diagnosed with chronic illness which was partly responsible for camino falls 2014, and that MUD slipped me up. VDP, 2017, I will walk, because I can walk again.

 

[Robo]

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

Can't wait to hear your thoughts post Camino...

I walked my first Camino partly to seek answers. After a couple of weeks walking, I realised I didn't even know the question! But once I found the question.......the answers came easily.

It really is like 'walking meditation'......

 

[longwalker60]

I don't overthink it. I just like being in Spain with the pilgrims, the scenery, the food, and the exercise.

Well said, my take exactly. Had a great time and ready to go back.

 

[grayland]

Interesting to note that this is a very old thread from January of 2017.

 

[evanlow]

As someone who has come of age in the 80s, I heard many times people saying 'to go to Nepal (mountains) to find yourself'.

After years of working life, this statement was never far from my thoughts. So when I discovered the Camino (first as a tourist in SDC) I thought I found my mountains. The look of the pilgrims arriving had a huge impact on me the first time as a tourist.

When I finally am able to walk my first Camino a few years later it was a revelation. Not quite the expectation, but way exceeded my goals.

1. One doesn't find themselves, they lose themselves to the Camino. Surrender to the situation, people, and what is happening around us.
2. Days become blurred when I walked into a town and wondered why it was so quiet, then realize later it was a Sunday. Never happened in my normal daily life.
3. The extra weight I carried on my first Camino (don't we all do that the first time?) became my burden. We can relieve the burden with a lighter load without the unnecessary and lead a simpler life.
4. Walking one step at a time became a pattern that helped me meditate. My life flashed before me during these intervals of walking. All my past decisions, regrets, joy, etc.
5. I was very curious and asked everyone I met their reason for walking the Camino. Then came the understanding that the reasons are what was said here in this thread by everyone else. Sometimes religious, but mostly .... just because.
6. Came to the conclusion that although the old Camino was mainly religious or adventure, the modern Camino has added self-therapy into the mix.
7. And it cannot be done without actually doing the pilgrimage. And how much what one can get out of it depends on how one decides or react to the experience. So is the Camino the cure to our modern-day anxieties?
8. I was early mid-life when I did my first Camino so it was extremely life-changing. Sorted out my life, and now much happier and a simpler life. Curious to know how it affects the younger (before working life) and the retired when they first experience the Camino.

Now as a repeat offender, every time I walk (different route), it's like meeting an old friend (mentor) all over again.

 

[Elle Bieling]

@evanlow, I like it: "self-therapy." Indeed that is the case for most of us. However, I have always preferred the word, "contemplative." Feels less clinical to me and adds the spiritual dimension. Just my thoughts.

 

[Elle Bieling]

Interesting to note that this is a very old thread from January of 2017.

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...