El Camino de la Vida
The way of life
A poem on the essence of a modern-day pilgrimage through the North coast of Spain.
There’s more to it than just walking
I recently walked a 1000-kilometer pilgrimage towards Santiago de Compostela in Spain. I started on the border with France and continued, with the Atlantic ocean on my right side, along the Camino del Norte. It was a spectacular experience, which I will for sure write more about in the future! The routine of moving towards something new every day was refreshing. It was both a physical and mental challenge. I saw the most beautiful landscapes, and met the most interesting people along the way. Most pilgrims do it for these reasons, and head home to their normal lifestyle feeling satisfied with this rich experience. All of that was spectacular, but I went on this Camino to look for something more enriching.
But what’s in the name, right? Well, I think there’s a crucial difference between rich or enriching experiences. A rich experience is something that is amazing, valuable, or perhaps even rare. The value of the experience remains external, where we’re just the observer appreciating it. An enriching experience, on the other hand can be an extension of that, but isn’t so necessarily. The difference lies in the internalization of the experience. Does it touch your soul? Does it impact you hard enough to change the course of your life? Does it teach you an invaluable lesson which is too important to forget again? These are questions which prove the intensity of your experience, and distinguish it between rich or enriching.
In search of something more profound than the superficial beauty along the way, I caught myself in the middle of my journey questioning how I’d continue life after my camino. I found the answer in the Albergue La Cabaña del Abuelo Peuto in Güemes. This guest house is quite special. It is run by volunteers, and depends entirely on donations. The atmosphere is remarkable, because it does more than just offer the basics (shower, laundry, kitchen, bed). The volunteers put in a real effort to make the pilgrim’s stay as enriching as possible. They gave us a wide explanation of the camino and the philosophy of the shelter. The most enriching thing was saved for last though. At the end of the evening we were guided to a little chapel. Father Ernesto believes that this is the most important place of his project.
The chapel is a hexagon with, on five of the six walls, paintings portraying a stage of El Camino de la Vida. In the morning, when everyone was getting ready to take off, I went into this chapel all by myself. I needed a space where I could meditate and reflect. The wall without a painting, but with a window, pulled me close. I laid down, closed my eyes, focused on my breathing, and calmed my senses. After about half an hour, I opened my eyes and saw the paintings with a clear mind. Observing these images in the morning had a profound impact on me. They spoke so loud and clear, that I felt the need to write its message down as quickly as I could. The words simply bled out of me.
It had been a long long time since I wrote in this manner. ‘To compose poetry is about listening,’ says Jon Fosse, ‘… not to contrive, it is, so to speak, about bringing forth something that already exists.’ This poem was my attempt to bring forth the wisdom which looms in the path of preceded footsteps.
Poem: El Camino de la Vida
Controlled like puppets
We hang our eyes
Reversed smiles
Like shattered shells
But along the way
Two hands in both ways
Stop, stare, see, start
Steps and steps; infinity
When off the path
lost in nature
looking without seeing
Follow the winding road
The route will show itself
Yellow and bright energy
The reaching of a helping hand
Will heal a weakened soul
Nurtured around the table
By food and friends
The rumbling makes place
For the smiles to reappear
The path is long
And my light dims out
So I sit and reflect
Myself in the horizon
There comes the sun
Our ever-rising sun
We shine from the inside
God, look how far we've come!
There’s more to it than just my path
I learned that life is its own camino. Everyone is on his/her own path towards a goal. What is crucial, is to choose this goal yourself. You cannot let yourself be guided by other people’s wishes and desires. Once you know where you want to end up, that’s when you can start to move with your inner energy! That’s also when your adventure truly starts. It is probably impossible to see the path all the way to the finish, but that’s normal and perfectly fine. As long as you keep your goal in mind and follow your inner desire, you’ll move towards what has always been yours in the first place.
The most important thing, however, is not what I believe, but what we each discover our own way. You, the person next to you, me – all of us have our paths. Sva marga, like my Norwegian hero Erling Kagge calls it; follow your own path. I had to use my legs to go far away in order to learn this, but now I know this enrichment can be gathered anywhere, as long as you’re staying true to yourself.
Blog out,
Durim
