pilgrimage as purely religious?

[Joe and Lydia Banales]

Is Kathy's dissertation going to be published? I would love to read it. Lydia

Elyn Aviva wrote:

> It is also worth remembering that in the Middle Ages pilgrimage motives were
> as multiplex as they are now. Of COURSE that was a time of deep, pervasive
> faith, and pilgrimage by definition was/is a religious/spiritual activity,
> but in the Middle Ages pilgrimage was also one of the few acceptable excuses
> to get away from home and see the world! If not, there wouldn't have been so
> many warning about the worldly allures that could tempt one on the Way.
> Besides, maybe those very allures were a way of learning more about one's own
> faith, by testing it.
>
> I have often heard that the Camino doesn't end at Santiago--that reaching the
> end of the Camino is a beginning. Perhaps it is a beginning of that deeper
> exploration, as the events and experiences of the pilgrimage begin to
> percolate into one's inner being.
>
> Kathy Gower's dissertation (I had the honor of being on her committee)
> explores the ways in which people bring transformative events from the
> pilgrimage into their lives; I was struck by how varied these events
> are--learning to survive without hot water, an epiphany on the Camino,
> synchronistic events, a gentle touch, a gift of food. I was also struck by
> the mysterious ways in which faith becomes manifest.
>
> Buen Camino,
> Elyn