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<br>Gabrielle wrote:
<p>...That is, other than Shirley MacLaine's book? I'm not sure if
I meant that
<br>sarcastically or not. I have yet to decide how I stand on that
whole thing.
<p>Carol Bradley wrote:
<blockquote TYPE=CITE> ...My point here is that
I suspect the path to Compostella is actually much
<br>more ancient than the legends of St James and the Middle Ages,
and
<br>folllows ancient pathways from just after the last Ice Age. I
am not an
<br>archaeologist, but would be interested in hearing about work that has
been
<br>done on the pre-Pilgrimage route. Looking at the guide to the route
I have,
<br>it appears that some of the wells must be very ancient.</blockquote>
<p><br>......I wonder if this discussion would be enhanced by a metaphysical
framework in which we acknowledge that man is a seeker--a wanderer, looking
to be re-united with something lost but only dimly remembered. This
is the theme of much of our great literature. The trouble, in my opinion,
is that Shirley MacClaine and those of her persuasion have a limited
view of what it is they are seeking: a lost former life, a cosmic theorem
that opens the secrets of the world, etc.
<p>In terms of the Camino and its probable forerunner, i.e. an ancient
trackway, we can see the yearnings of man to literally and metaphorically
"go as far as he can", that is, to <i>finnis terre</i>, the end of the
earth. This is pre-Christian man's search for the ultimate--but then what?
<p>Before Christ, mankind was aware of the existence of God as the ultimate
object of man's reference. There is no culture without a religion of some
sort--the attempt to contact the divine that man intuitively knows is "out
there" and "above" as well as "in all things." He knew this
Divinity was more than a god (small "g") that inhabited every molecule
of matter. Pre-Christian man understood, as evident by his rituals,
that this ultimate God stood outside of and beyond the universe that He
had created. (In this sense pre-Christian pilgrims were eons ahead of MacClaine.)
<p>He knows this because he has a dim memory of the time when man and his
Divine Creator were unified.
<br>The Christian story for this is the Garden of Eden. But in some sense
all pagan religions attempt to deal with the break in unity between the
Creator and the created. Hence, the nomadic, wandering soul that in turn
drives the feet along some pathway in hopes of finding what has been long
lost----
<p>Northern Spain and Finnisterre made a natural a pathway to the end of
what was known (at the time) as the limits of this earthly realm.
Therefore it was "holy ground" simply because it was as close as man could
get (physically) to the end of the earth where--just maybe--heaven would
begin. A reasonable belief that there was not a break in the fabric of
the cosmos led to the belief that if one could get to the place where the
earth ceased, the other side would be where heaven began.
<p>We may count it at Fatherly love that heaven sent the body (no legend,
for in the 1800s the bodies were found) of St. JAmes with his disciples
to just such a spot. Heaven reinforces a good intent and sincere effort,
even if made in partial ignorance--heaven we can say, honors the hope of
its children.
<p>Psychologists have studied the habits of small children at play and
recognize in their play the serious intent to be what they intuitively
know they will be as adults. Hence, parents do not make light of the childish
attempts to care for stuffed bears and the need to exorcise the monster
in the closet. This childish play presages the challenges and obligations
of the adult.
<p>In the same manner, pre-Christian man was at serious "play" when he
set off on pilgrimage to Finnisterre.
<br>As adults solemnly participate in their children's most serious efforts,
so Heaven, in love, participated in the earnest efforts of Man to seek
God. In a special and particularly physical way, God reveals Himself via
Santiago.
<p>Christ Himself sent James to Spain. There is no scripture verse that
proves this, other than "Go ye unto all nations..." but James was one of
the three apostles always with Christ at the most significant events (ex.Transfiguration).
Spain, a thriving Roman colony, was sure to be among t he first to
receive the gospel by one of the apostles. Legends and subsidiary
history confirm St. James' missionary work in Spain. That God sent James
back to Spain after he was beheaded by Herod, is tribute to James efforts
there, and a love message from heaven for mankind who has long sought word
from God at Finisterre.
<p>Today, both kinds of pilgrimages are discernible along the Camino:,
the pre-Christian seeking and the Christian finding.
<p>MJ Anderson
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