stricter rules

[Elyn Aviva]

I don't know what Lisa's answers would be to your questions, Maryjane, but
I'm jumping in with my own.

As you know, I've been fascinated with the pilgrimage since I first
experienced it as an onlooker in 1981, and then walked it in 1982 as part of
my fieldwork for my PhD in anthropology. I am of Jewish heritage. I don't go
to a church and, at that time, I didn't go to a synagogue, either! Yet I
walked the Camino and found it deeply moving and life changing--and not just
because I got my PhD out of it.

Why not walk to a place related to my heritage? I have continued to find the
Camino fascinating. I walked it again in 1997 with my husband, who would
identify himself as a Sufi, not a Christian, even if his early training was
Christian. He found it meaningful. I walked it again in 2000. My ancestors
(including my parents) are Jewish, even though I was raised as a Unitarian,
but I didn't relate to my Jewish heritage. It would have made no sense to go
on pilgrimage to some place related to my Jewish heritage. My spiritual
journey had nothing to do with my Jewish heritage. I think that because I am
not Christian, the Camino and its end in Compostela were quite different for
me, but certainly not meaningless. I learned a tremendous amount about faith.
Not mine, but the faith of the millions who have walked the Camino. Last year
I traveled with a group that included several priests, a nun, and a number of
Catholics. I was graced with the opportunity to attend mass with them, to
share in their experience of faith. It deepened my appreciation for the
Camino. This past year I have begun connecting to my Jewish heritage, but I
still plan to walk the Camino again--hopefully this summer with my son. Why?
Because I know the experience goes beyong having a Christian faith. It is the
experience of pilgrimage--of journey, of stepping out of my normal life, of
facing risk and reward, of walking through sacred places, of visiting
churches (I LIKE being in sacred places of any faith).

 You ask: why would I go on a highly organized pilgrimage if my reasons...? I
don't think of walking the Camino as a highly organized pilgrimage: I think
of it as incredibly individualistic! A highly organized pilgrimage would be
taking a bus tour with a parish group, or walking with a parish priest and
church members. One of the draws of the Camino, I believe, is that it is so
unorganized. That doesn't mean there isn't structure--and I don't just mean
the refugios. There is the structure of having a path to follow that is lined
with sacred places, some of which have been sacred long before Christianity.
There is the structure of having a goal--it's not just a hike in the woods
for "x" number of days.

The more I have studied the Camino, the more convinced I am that there are
many Caminos coexisting under the current one--many images and symbols and
places of mythic memory that we experience, consciously or not. Walking the
Camino I share in the beauty of the churches, the stained glass windows in
the cathedral in Leon, the amazing simplicity of the San Tirso in Sahagun...
not to mention the puzzle of meeting pilgrims who are walking esoteric
Caminos that end at Finisterre... The Swiss pilgrim walking the Camino of the
Stars, looking for goose foot symbols, going through a transformation of self
from recovering addict to spiritual adept... The awesomeness of the mountains
of the Maragateria... the intensity of walking, being in nature, for so long.
Not just a day hike in the mountains but weeks of being outside normal
space/time. Where else could I have that experience? (Well, a walk to Rome,
maybe, or the Japanese Shikoku island pilgrimage circuit, or circumambulating
a sacred Tibetan mountain--but those are farther outside my religious scope
than the walk to Santiago. After all, my ancestry may be Jewish but my
cultural experience is definitely Judeo-Christian.)

Would I/will I be disappointed if I don't get the Compostela? That is a
fascinating question. It really brings me up against Ego issues. And it
should. Maybe that's the gift in the tightening of the rules. For those of us
who are not walking as devout Catholics/Christians but instead are on a
personal spiritual quest, why should we care if we don't get the souvenir of
the Compostela certificate? Why should we think that is the "prize" at the
end of the road, or the proof that we are pilgrims? Why, if Santiago doesn't
mean anything to us/me personally should I care if I get a piece of paper,
signed by a busy priest, with my name translated sort of into Latin? Good
question.

Well, enough. I couldn't resist replying. Thanks for listening.
Buen Camino,
Elyn