Non-Christian pilgrim experiences

[lmorris]

        Maybe I'll do the same, and that is jump in to this religious versus
non religious experience of the Camino. Like Elyn I to think that this
journey is us evoking archetypes of primal ideas that we don't fully
understand. I see it this way, the lower is nothing more than a
reflection of the higher.
        If I may ask the question, Why does everyone assume that the Christians
have the exclusive rights the the Camino? Sort of like the Egyptian
thinking that they have the exclusive rights to the pyramids, but do
they just because the pyramids are in their land. So why is it that when
a non Christian wishes to part take in this journey they feel like they
are walking in a place they don't belong and they feel like they need
permission. But in the end, they go away with a personnel experience of
their own.
        Have we ever wondered why this journey in Spain is only called the
"Camino" or the "The Way", I ask, the way to where and why is it not
more descriptive? Could it be also called "the Way that Is Not a Way" or
maybe "the Way that Cannot Be Named"? I must say, it truly a strange
path.

leonard



Elyn Aviva wrote:
>
> I guess I'll throw caution to the winds and jump in on this. I am a
> non-Christian--raised a humanist, agnostic Unitarian-Universalist, later
> transformed into a person who follows (stumbles along) a Sufi path in the
> Sufi Order International, an order that honors ALL world religions (I look at
> it as the spiritual counterpart/counterpoint to my UU upbringing), and,
> finally, someone who has rediscovered her Jewish roots.... I can only say
> that for me the Camino has been a source of continuous fascination and
> inspiration since I first experienced it in 1981 when I was looking for a
> topic for my PhD fieldwork in anthropology. I have been "grabbed" by the
> Camino and shaken and lifted and tossed and brought to my knees. I have felt
> the vibrations of faith and the faithful, and been honored to do so, even if
> I am not Christian.
>
> For me, the Camino is an archetypal experience, a sacred, ritual process that
> enables me to move into a spiritual space that fills me with awe. I am moved
> by the faith of millions who have walked the Camino and built the churches; I
> long to be in those sacred places even though I am not Christian because of
> what I am able to experience in them. I also know that in the Middle Ages
> many people of many faiths met on the Camino, including Muslim Sufis, Jewish
> Kabbalists, Christian alchemists--and many others.
>
> I like to think that the Camino is big enough for all of us.
>
> Buen Camino,
> Elyn