projected increases in numbers for 2004 - horror or sublime?

[Sally Haden]

Thanks, Rosina,
and when you put it that way I have to agree.
(You said :
>In my view, those who may have wanted to do so but were not able to make
>the
>pilgrimage before, with improved  financial means now, less economic
>worries
>and increased  spiritual concerns are more likely to make the pilgrimage.
>This
>is, however, my personal opinion.)
And it would be a great thing for the world if a trend towards "increased
spiritual concerns" goes hand in hand with "improved financial means"!  That
thought could be interpreted to have a cynical grimace behind it, but in
fact I hope that maybe we are entering a "third age" when such things are
possible and we are all abundant in material and spiritual things.

>Xacobean history, or lore, states that "millions" made the pilgrimage to
>Santiago in times past;  large multitudes now or next year shouldn't
>present any
>problem and might add to the experience.
And here I have to agree again.  Perhaps many of us crave quiet and solitude
because of modern lifestyles and that might be a reason to go on the Camino
(well, it will be one of my reasons) but the human experience is always, in
the end, one which is about other people (and that is also why I want to
go).  Indeed I agree again when thinking about history, how good it would be
to feel the sway of the spirit of that human flow.  I am retired and also
have never worked in places such as London where the daily flow of bodies to
and from work is the ordinary experience of millions, but it seems to me
that that flow doesn't have life to it. It is a means to an end, in which
people don't connect, don't share.  Whereas the voluntary flow of bodies en
masse towards (or via) a spiritual aim must be a noble thing to experience.
Perhaps it is in that light we should look at the figures, which earlier I
thought of as something of a "horror"!
I will work on it! Thanks.

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