[Gocamino] Pondering...

[Renato Alvarado Vidal]

	Dear Kathy, in the first place, I want to tell you that I think that  
El Camino is a so powerful event and experience, that it will "act on  
you" anyway; for me it was gidding to feel how I was melting into the  
pilgrimage, how the self I used to be, dissolved into that river,  
eleven centuries deep. Around fourth or fifth day I noticed that when  
asked, who was me? I could have answered anything; the one I used to  
be had dissolved without any possibility of avoiding it, as a  
snowflake on your open palm.
	Later it was clear, I breathed like a pilgrim, eated like a pilgrim,  
evacuated like a pilgrim, sweated, snorted and dreamed like a  
pilgrim, simply because I was being a pilgrim twenty four hours a  
day, and a day and so on; no wonder that I was also thinking and  
feeling and flying like a pilgrim.
	This experience was for me the most impressive; I think that perhaps  
because it made me feel the brotherhood with all pilgrims that along  
so many years have treaded the path, and have make it sacred.
	Other fantastic gift founded in El Camino, was the freedom, the  
magnificent freedom of needing only what I carry in my backpack and  
that my legs don't desert me; I fully enjoyed asking nothing, only  
giving thanks. I found joy unlimited, being happier day after day is  
exhilarating; I made the last day dancing and singing.
	And certainly there are many other gifts that El Camino can bring.  
One dimension that we, atheist people, don't have access to, is the  
emotional realm of the religious experience; for me, to perform a  
special ritual with the saint's image, had no meaning; so it was  
clear for me that I was missing something.
	From these experiences I think that, preparations or not  
preparations, El Camino will take charge of you; and anyway, it's  
better to have preparation, for non spanish speakers, some languaje  
knowledge is advisable. I think that the key of preparation is  
something you wrote  :   is it enough to be truly open ? I say it's  
much more than enough, it's necessary, because you can't pour  
anything into a cup, if it's not previously empty.
	Buen Camino, siempre, para todos.

	Machi

El 19/02/2007, a las 20:09, Kathy Gower escribió:

> I have received a few responses already (!) and I can see why  
> people might
> not want to reply to this very personal posting regarding spiritual
> experiences (not religious)  in a wider forum.  I chose goCamino  
> rather than
> a larger group for that purpose.
>
> When I thought of preparation for a pilgrimage, it meant to me,  
> with a great
> deal of naivete and enthusiasm, packing lists, maps, bits of history,
> cultural orientation and logistics. I searched list serves (at that  
> time the
> UCLA group that preceded this goCamino) and thought I was prepared.
>
> Years later, I see that it was my whole background as a catholic   
> that may
> have been one of the biggest preparations as I easily fell into the  
> pilgrim
> masses, staying at religious hostels (Roncesvalles to begin with!),  
> and for
> the small insights that accompanied sitting in the still quiet of  
> some of
> the chapels, etc.  It doesn't mean to say that there is where I had my
> deeply spiritual experiences...those hapened between people and in  
> solitude
> under the roof of the sky without the religious trappings.
>
> However, I was on a path that had been tread for centuries for  
> primarily
> religious reasons, "Wife of Bath" and other Chauncerian pilgrims  
> aside.  It
> was a karmic path probably before that as well, in pre-Christian  
> times.
>
> I guess my question has to do with preparation, or lack of it.  I  
> did not
> consciously prepare in the manner of say Joyce Rupp or Lee  
> Honaicki, and yet
> my pilgrimage has altered all aspects of my life since.  Is there a
> correlation bewteen spiritual preparation (something often  
> overlooked) and
> spiritual experience, or does that often come unbidden in these times?
>
> Is spiritual preparation also a necessity or is it enough to be  
> truly open
> without any studied or prescribed approach?
>
>
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