Here, a loving tribute to my primary source of sustenance during the 149 days of my Great Walk — water. People are indeed Kind, and so on some days I did receive an abundance of food. And yet people are also soaked in impregnated fear & indoctrinated distrust, so on many more days I simply […]
You have no choice but to admit that you are hobbling along verrrrrry slowly when an octogenarian who has recently had double knee-replacement surgery blows past you while walking up a slight hill … 😀 “There is nothing noble in feeling superior to your fellow man. True nobility is being superior to your former self.” […]
While the churches in the United States were disturbingly dismissive along The Walk’s way (with not a single one offering me lodging and only a handful offering even the most meager forms of sustenance during my 5+ week, 800+ mile stroll from Brooklyn to Chattanooga), the Catholic churches in Switzerland and France regularly proved to […]
Day 09 was actually quite the pleasant walk, weather-wise, and yet my feet were still aching and I was still not yet pilgrimage-fit. As a consequence, I found myself on this day continuing to jettison the handful of “just in case” items that I was still lugging along with me — including my very favorite […]
As a continued to walk along, I approached the town of Haslach and began intermittently alternating between mindfully walking barefoot on the now smoothly paved walkway and limping along in my shoes. The former proved to be so mindful, in fact, that I lost my Way shortly thereafter, and stopped to wonder whether I should […]
While the particular obstacle seen below might not look like much to you from where you currently sit, rest assured that it was in truth a significant one for me; a pilgrim in much pain on this particular day* … Nevertheless, I had constructed this pilgrimage to be a wholly one-way affair, so onward was […]
After a wonderful evening spent with Elisabeth Oberfell and her lovely family in Haslach* I set forth the following morning feeling physically refreshed and emotionally upbeat. Of course, life being what it is, my physical energy was soon replaced thereafter by a growing fatigue and my emotional equanimity by a gnawing sense of dis-ease. For […]
After finally finding the proper path, I walked on through the woods on this day with high spirits — the sun was shining, the trail was now smooth and clear, and the landscape was stunningly beautiful. That having been said, there was one cause for concern: water — or better stated, my pregnant lack thereof. […]
As I wobbled into the village of Elzach after another arduous day of walking, an ominous storm was seen rapidly approaching along the near horizon — a storm that inspired me to seek shelter in a number of locales (the town hall, a nearby visitor’s center, a library, and a retirement home lobby to name […]
The advantage to being locked into places of worship for the night is that they provide a place to sleep that is both peaceful & dry. The disadvantage to the same is that European churches are not equipped with emergency exits — meaning that one must either quietly hide and wait for the wardens of […]
“Life itself is a pilgrimage, and unless selfless LOVE is embraced and enlivened therein, that life becomes nothing but a hollow traveling — a journey without purpose or completion. For it is in seeking to LOVE rather than be loved that we become our true Selves; pilgrims with no destination but the path already under […]
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