I was thereafter smoothly flowing out of town when I heard a loud and enthusiastic “Scaughdt!” coming from the side of the road. And who should I see when looking in that direction but Hannah – the wonderful young pilgrim from Japan; the pilgrim I had first briefly met in the lovely hostel in Pieros […]
“There is always a temptation to get spiritually lost in the contemplative life, bowing to the far tinier statues of ‘wisdom’ or ‘salvation’ or ‘enlightenment.’ Similarly there is always an enormous temptation in all the other facets of life to get similarly lost – focusing on tiny friends and tiny comforts and tiny successes and […]
I then flowed into the hamlet of Ponte Oveira just as the rain began to pour down, and found myself fluidly pausing under a neighboring grape arbor to smilingly wait out the passing storm … “Two of the more difficult tests on any Spiritual Path are 01) the courage required to meld with whatever is […]
The hamlet of Lago and its Mt. Aro hostel was next on the day’s list. This place had seemed inviting on its surface when I had passed by a few days previous – though the stench from the neighboring bovine slaves had dissuaded me from stopping by. Of course, giving the place the benefit of […]
The little village of Santa Marina was next on the list today – the town where I had first thought to stop a few days prior, but where the cow-stench was simply too oppressive to do so. As previously mentioned, the fresh rains had made the area more olfactorily approachable on this day, and so […]
I had heard from several pilgrims along The Way that there was a donativo refuge open to all pilgrims in the town of Vilaserio, and it seemed to be a pretty positive portent when I rounded a bend in the road and saw a glowing rainbow arcing down directly thereto … “Each man has only […]
It wasn’t long thereafter that, with the rainbow having faded and the day’s sunlight beginning to wane and the day’s shadows beginning to lengthen, I finally made my way into Vilaserio proper and pulled up to the town’s Municipal Albergue – a run-down and amenity-free building that still served as a donativo refuge for pilgrims […]
I woke early this morning (as usual) and sat for quite awhile outside on the hostel’s front stoop – so grateful to be on this Great Journey, so grateful to have already come so far, so grateful to have done the (admittedly seemingly little) Good I have been able to do, so grateful to be […]
“When they are reverently walked, pilgrimage routes become liberated spaces that can be more fully occupied. The openness with which they are tread gives them a rich sense of fluid indetermination – a humble way of being that makes routes ever-flexible and every stranger a potential friend. When walked reverently, pilgrim paths embolden a semantic […]
“Purpose is the reason you’re on this great journey, and reverence is the torch that lights your way … So walk it well, then. Choose to see the Souls of others at the center of your life’s newest landscapes … Ever remember that you are the traveler; the holy pilgrim taking this journey; that you […]
It goes almost without saying (certainly for those of you who have been following along so far) that I ended up crossing the country of Spain at a fluidly rapid pace – so rapid, in fact, that I ended up arriving in Santiago many days ahead of most of those I had previously met along […]
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