The soul has a way of urging us forward to learn our life’s lessons. Sometimes lessons come in ways we just can’t miss – like when tragedy strikes and we have to grow a part of ourselves to get through it. But sometimes our growth comes from new opportunities, new practices, or new ideas – if we have the courage to explore them. When the opportunity, or just the idea of it, comes knocking at your door, how do you respond?
Therese Antony
The first idea of pilgrimage was planted almost a year ago after watching the movie The Way, with Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez with a friend. I was intrigued by the idea of a multi-week walk across Spain, without really understanding what it would take. Interest in making the journey myself happened fairly quickly and has grown over the passing months.
I’m primarily interested in it from a spiritual perspective. Pilgrimage presents an opportunity to step outside of the ordinary and to be fully in something completely for myself. The call of relationship, responsibility, and obligations are set aside for a time to be fully present to myself in a focused way. The physical aspect, the walk itself, seems to hold a key, but I am not fully certain of why that is. Perhaps it will be essential to the integration, maybe it is because it is more extreme in that it takes weeks to complete. I’m not clear on that, but am sure that it will become clearer over time.
Whatever the reason, the Camino de Santiago presents a way to express outwardly an internal process of spiritual pilgrimage that has been present during most of my life. I see myself as a pilgrim and that we are all pilgrims. Consciously or not, we are all on a personal and lifelong journey – a pilgrimage – to reconnect with and become that divine, sacred, and transcendent spark of being that resides within us. We have forgotten, most likely by design, who we really are, but that’s where the truth of our identity lies. Its our job to find our way back to it.
My Soul is calling me to greater intimacy. Pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago is my way of responding in an intentional, outer way to this deep call. I’m so glad to have Sue, who has had the experience, partnering with me in the discussion about the process, the preparation, and the journey.
Sue Hardman-Conklin
In 2011 I was traveling in Laos and met a newly married couple who were heading off next to walk the Camino. “I’ve never heard of it. What’s the Camino?” I asked. They explained that The Camino de Santiago, also called The Way of St. James, is an ancient pilgrimage in Northern Spain. Currently it’s the most popular Christian pilgrim route in the world. The destination of the pilgrimage is the city of Santiago de Compostela.
“How far of a walk is it?”
“About 500 miles.”
“Wow! How long will that take you?”
“About 33 days of walking, averaging a little less than 15 miles a day.”
“Really? I can’t imagine doing something like that.”
I wished them well, completely oblivious to the fact that a seed had been planted.
A year later I was flipping through Netflix and came across the movie, The Way. “Oh, this is that Camino thing those people I met where talking about.” On a whim I watched it. Hmmm. I was intrigued. Maybe someday. Maybe not.
Two years later the invitation came. A good friend of mine named Julie had the idea to walk the Camino at the end of her upcoming year long sabbatical from teaching. She was looking for someone to do it with her. Knowing I’m always up for an adventure, she asked me. I couldn’t have been more surprised. I had no idea Julie knew anything about the Camino, and I’d never talked about it or seriously considered doing it. Over the years however, I’ve learned that when something keeps “randomly” showing up in my life, I pay attention. This seemed like one of those times.
The idea of an adventure with Julie was exciting, but the reality of being gone for 5 weeks or more was daunting. How could I possibly fit this into my busy life? And could I be away from my husband and family that long? I needed to give serious consideration to whether this was really doable logistically and physically – and whether it was worth doing at all. At the core of the issue was the question, “Why go?”
It’s an important question that has layers of answers. Over the next several months I began the journey of moving through those layers, uncovering slowly the depth and complexity of the invitation and what it would require of me. I kept wondering, is this my soul urging me forward? It sort of had that flavor – something that keeps coming up – seemingly out of nowhere – something that intrigues me but at the same time scares me – something that feels right at one level but is hard to find a logical explanation for doing. As I contemplated this, the fears kept coming forward. Did I have the courage to attempt the outer and the inevitable inner journey of walking the Camino? What if I tried and failed? And what if I didn’t try?
I can relate to the idea of a seed being planted and gestating in the dark; to begin to move through the darkness, unconsciously, until it emerged as a possibility, above ground and conscious. Oh, how surprised I was when the unconscious seed became conscious, a living idea that took hold! In my case, I had to take care not to trample the fragile seedling, allowing it to emerge in its own time. Sue, I think that’s what you described and honored. Your description was a touching reminder of my own journey/seedling. Thank you.
I never imagined I would want to go on a pilgrimage. Like Sue, I too assumed pilgrimages were set aside for the devout whether they be catholics visiting the site of a miracle or muslims going to Mecca. The seed was planted for me in little bits over the years through history classes in college, travel shows and the movie, The Way. The seed burst into full bloom when I followed Sue on Facebook as she walked the Camino last year. Her day-by-day reflections/posts were so inspiring. I am going to walk the Camino in the Fall of 2017 and can not wait to have this experience. I relish the rare opportunity to have six weeks by myself to reflect and recharge, and most importantly, to just be me. I came across this quote by Paulo Coehlo and will carry it with me on my journey:
“When you travel, you experience, in a very practical way, the act of rebirth. You confront completely new situations, the day passes more slowly, and on most journeys you don’t even understand the language the people speak. So you are like a child just out of the womb. You begin to attach much more importance to the things around you because your survival depends upon them. You begin to be more accessible to others because they may be able to help you in difficult situations. And you accept any small favour from the gods with great delight, as if it were an episode you would remember for the rest of your life.
At the same time, since all things are new, you see only the beauty in them, you feel happy to be alive. That’s why a religious pilgrimage has always been one of the most objective ways of achieving insight.” (Paulo Coehlo, The Pilgrimage)