[Gocamino] lessons, insights on camino?

Sun Feb 25 18:38:18 PST 2007

Hi Wendy,

Thanks for your questions. And others, thanks for your inspiring replies
about lessons and insights from the Camino. I read everything posted to this
list and find it very inspiring and informative. Time for me to make a
contribution. . . 

It's not easy to nail what lessons and insights came to me on the Camino.
Like many I wrote a manuscript shortly after returning home. I'm taking
another looks at the manuscript and collecting my thoughts on the impact of
my first Camino, nearly four years ago. Here's a start. I've written this
for an audience that does not know about the Camino, so please be patient
with my explanations of things that you folks already know. 

I discovered my faith on the Camino de Santiago de Compostella, or the
Camino as I learned to call it.

In May of 2003 I trekked for three weeks on the Camino trail in Northern
Spain. I knew that it had deep religious significance but I was intent in
having a healthy holiday-and trimming my ever-expanding 50+ year-old waist.

In medieval times when thoughts of Heaven, Hell and Purgatory pre-occupied
people, and the Church dominated life, indulgences were granted to pilgrims
after completing the Camino. Through indulgences, the church exonerated the
faithful from certain types of sins. Also our superstitious forefathers
believed that they would find miraculous cures for disease, drought and
pestilence along the Camino. Sadly, thousands of cure-craving and
salvation-seeking pilgrims perished en route to Santiago. 

Martin Luther reacted to what he saw were abuses in the Church, including
the selling of indulgences. Luther and others revolted and created break-off
movement from the Catholic Church, today known as Protestant religions.

A student and teacher of History in my younger years, I was sceptical about
the religious side of the Camino as I loaded my backpack for the trip. I was
also pre-occupied by my fear. Was I strong enough to carry my backpack for
three weeks? Would I find a place to sleep? Would I be comfortable sleeping
in dormitories with other pilgrims? Who would I meet?  Religious zealots?
As I started my journey I lacked faith in my ability to reach the end. In
short, I lacked faith in myself. No wonder I lacked faith in something
larger than myself.

On my first day I walked close to 20 kilometres with a charming French
couple who told me that on the Camino, you start as a walker and end as a
pilgrim-one who has faith. Day after day I met interesting and open-minded
people who celebrated the trail and their faith in many ways: attending
Mass; laughing, telling stories, sharing their food with strangers; and
snapping photos of medieval architecture, religious icons and exquisite
arrangements of wildflowers. 

On my tenth day, while walking in the rain, lonely, weary and in a
heightened state of awareness, I experienced an eerie sensation. Everything
seemed to slow down. I flowed along the trail, unconscious of my effort. In
my meditative state I sensed the trail entering my lungs. I was inhaling the
atoms of my pilgrim-ancestors, scuffing the same stones, feeling their zeal
to arrive in Santiago. A warm feeling welled up in my body, from the
confidence that I would complete my journey. Now that I had faith in myself
I also wanted to experience faith in something bigger, spiritual faith in a
greater power.

On the last day of walking, a few kilometres from my destination I was
approaching the first sighting of Santiago. Medieval pilgrims went delirious
at this place, Monte del Gozo, the Mount of Joy, they called it. Can you
image the ecstasy of our forefathers, when after many months of deprivation
they realized they were going to live to reach their destination, have their
sins forgiven and as a result spend less time in Purgatory?

>From the crest of the famous hill I saw a faint outline of the church in
Santiago straight ahead. To my left, 20 young people gathered in a circle in
the courtyard of a Romanesque church. Between the group and me, a
kind-looking middle-aged woman perched on a broad stone wall. She beckoned
me to join her. 

I approached and sat beside her, at first still facing the road where I had
been walking. She motioned for me to turn around and face the youth, like
she was doing. I complied and realized they were participating in a
religious service. Once the leader saw that I was securely seated, he
stopped, asked my name, where I was from and invited me to join in. 

The ceremony moved me with it's honest originality: the blending of guitar,
flute, and home grown songs on home-made song sheet. It ended with hugs, and
I eagerly participated. I realized that I had walked the Camino to meet this
group. To experience their love. Their joy. Their faith. 

After the service Bruce, the red-haired Irish leader, explained to me that
at the time when the Camino was most popular, people had faith. They
believed in miracles, they believed their intuition, they believed in God.
Historians refer to this period as the Age of Belief. That all changed with
the Enlightenment. People started to look to reason for explanations. If you
could not explain things through reason, then they did not exist. You could
not use your reason to prove that God existed; therefore there was no God. 

I recalled an earlier conversation with Stephen, a practical-minded, 50-ish
American. He explained his faith this way. One day he tried believing in a
higher being. He was just checking it out. That decision, to believe,
brought him new energy and his life improved considerably. So he continued
to believe-and to have a better life. 

The conversations with Bruce and Stephen combined with the rainy-day
realizations I had about my ability to reach the end of the Camino have
become the cornerstones of my faith: faith in me, faith in others and faith
in a higher being, higher order or whatever. I'm not certain what it is I
believe in, but I do know that I believe in things not seem and things
wished for.  

And talking about things wished for, yes, I did trim two inches off my waist
and I had a wonderful travel experience, learned some Spanish, marvelled at
nature's beauty and shared life experiences with kindred spirits from around
the world. I returned to the Camino in August of 2005 for six weeks and may
do it again.

Brooke Broadbent

Ottawa, Canada

-----Original Message-----
From: gocamino-bounces at oakapple.net [mailto:gocamino-bounces at oakapple.net]
On Behalf Of Wendy MORRIS
Sent: Tuesday, November 28, 2006 4:03 AM
To: gocamino at oakapple.net
Subject: [Gocamino] lessons, insights on camino?

Hello all,

I've just returned from the most wonderful and the most difficult
experience of my life...my first Camino (Frances). And I did it alone! 

I found every second an absolute wonder; even the seemingly dreadful
situations I found myself in from time to time, ie walking beside a
highway in wind and hail with buses and trucks belting past on one side,
a ploughed field  (potter's clay!) on the other side, shoe lace undone
and dying for a pee!! Also didn't expect it so didn't pack my stuff in
plastic.....I found myself just stopping and laughing.....very
hard!After all I'd decided to do this!!!!

It's quite difficult to put into words (as you all would know), however
a few things I think I learnt and developed along the way were
flexibility and innovation......... and to trust and believe in my
INTUITION!  This latter has been a great gift. I found following my
intuition very easy for some reason and it never failed to amaze me how
things turned out just "right"....when I listened and followed the
promptings. I also found an open attitude to all experiences was another
gift I seemed to be blessed with from the beginning (even an over
friendly monk and a man who tried to get too familiar in a church!!). In
fact I felt all along that somehow, even though I was walking alone...I
wasn't really. It was the strangest and most mystical thing......

Has anyone out there found this to be the case on their Caminos??

Did any of you find you learn some profound lessons, gained insights?

A big thankyou to all for encouragement and help especially Kathy G.,
Rosina, Grant, Javier, Sue.

Warmest wishes to all

Wendy Morris

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