Tonight we are staying in Azura, about 39kms from Santiago. The walk today was quite a bit of down hill. I thought I woukd enjoy it more than the uphill we’ve been facing lately, but it was actually harder on the knees. To compensate, I ran down some of the smooth slopes which was quite enjoyable.
In an earlier post, I compared the Camino to the spiritual life using the three ways: purgative, illuminative, and unitive. I warned not to try and figure out exactly what stage you are in as such an examination often leads to over thinking and unnecessary focus on one’s self. I think that the Camino might be similar.
I was excited to draw the comparison, but I think it falls short. I expected a time of transition and purification as I adjusted to Camino life, and this stage happened. The next two did not fall into place as much as I had hoped. I had envisioned the second stage as a deeper discovery of the reason for being here, walking. The third stage was supposed to be a digging deeper into that reason and, I guess, being really spiritual and thoughtful about it. These preconceptions have not quite panned out, though they may meet some peoples’ experiences. Overall, I have found the journey to be determined more by the peopke we walk with. We’ve had times meeting new people from various countries and we’ve learned a bit of their culture and ideas. We’ve also met Americans and made some seminarian friends. Lastly, we’ve spent some time walking by ourselves and functioning as a smaller group.
The three ways may not be a perfect analogy and my first guesses were off track, but I’ll attempt to readjust the schema since there have been general patterns to my journey.
The second stage was a little bit of figuring out why I’m here, and really what I was supposed to learn from the journey, at least that is what I had hoped for. I found my answer in realizing that I was over thinking things. I’ve expressed this insight before in the terms of the Camino being a continuation of life. The Way is a special place where you get to meet tons of people, see grand and ordinary places, and experience a good deal of suffering whether by hunger or foot problems or whatever. But all of this is situated in the larger context of life. No break through, life changing moments are necessarily going to happen, though it is a good idea to have an eye open for them, especially in the little things. So, where as the first stage was adjusting to the new physical way of life, I think that the second stage is adjusting to the new mental or spiritual way.
I expected the third leg of the journey to be a time of deeper prayer and reflection as we approached our goal. I was met, however, with new challenges. The mountains provided rough and long days with less food than normal, especially due to my dietary restrictions. Tired and hungry, I found my patience tried and had to practice a new suffering of letting go of things I couldn’t control and making do with what I could. Once we got within 100 of Santiago, the trail became flooded with new pilgrims and the shops and restaurants became more touristy. We’ve started to walk a little earlier to avoid the crowds, which has provided time for prayer and reflection. This last stage has not been as intense as I expected, and it has had its ups and downs. It has been both a time of thankfulness for our many experiences on the way and has made us more eager to arrive in Compostella. So much so, that we might try to walk the remaining 40k tomorrow. If we decide that route, I hope we don’t get lost, and we shouldn’t since it is a straight forward trail.
Overall, the three ways don’t make a perfect comparison with the camino but there are some similarities. Just as with the spiritual life, the stages of the camuno are not sealed off in seperate segments, but it is a fluid whole marked by certain emphasies. My expectations didn’t turn out exactly as I thought, but I suppose it is the same in the spiritual life. When we try to map everything out and have it all under control, control often slips from our hands. We should strive toward the good and examine our activity, but we cannot fathom the mind of God and the wonders which he has in store for us, even if they are proceeded by some suffering.
-Michael