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<TITLE>Re: request for openness</TITLE>
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<FONT SIZE="2">Dear All,<BR>
I am very disappointed at the level of conversation that has been going on at this listserv. It bothers me quite a bit as I feel we are not acting as a community of pilgrims, we have in some important way drifted from our path. But our pilgrimage here has no yellow arrows to lead us so, its feels now as if we are quite lost.<BR>
It is very unclear to me why it would be a problem to talk about historical aspects of the Camino, if only for interest sake. Do I think it matters to my experience whether or not St. Francis walked the Camino? Or do I feel that my pilgrimage is any less because there may or may not have been a million pilgrims on the road in the middle ages? No. But do I find these topics interesting and appropriate in a discussion about the Camino? Yes! <BR>
Because I saw so many people asking more or less the same practical questions (both in person and on this list) I set up my website with a FAQ's page. I did this so that we could free up some of the conversation time from when to make the pilgrimage, what to bring, etc. to other aspects of the Camino, like its spiritual meaning, its historical context<BR>
It doesn't strike me that people are showing off when they share their knowledge with us. I am not a historian, and so I appreciate when those with historical experience share with me. Part of what drew me to the Camino in the first place was that it wasn't just a hiking trip though Europe, but a trip with past history. This is not a listerv about hiking, but about pilgrimage and you cannot talk about pilgrimages without looking at the historical context under which they developed.<BR>
I truly hope that we can find so peace again in this listserv. Perhaps we need to remember the great level of cooperation that sleeping in a dorm room with 60 other people takes and use that for our model. <BR>
Maria</FONT>
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