The Inner Camino
Third time is a charm.
Solitude in Western Colorado, 2011
I have made a new commitment to myself for this upcoming pilgrimage. In 2011 and 2014 I embarked on separate solo pilgrimages that gave me lots of time for solitude—first the pilgrimage through the Western U.S. where I revisited all the places and had lived and, second, the Rome to Rumi pilgrimage where I was processing this paradigmatic shift from religious orthodoxy to modern mysticism.
But one of the things I clearly remember about both of those pilgrimages is that I was constantly interpreting the experience while actually having the experience. Because I had committed to blog every evening about my adventure and experiences I left very little time between the raw experience and the meaning behind those same experiences.
Thinking in titles.
It got so ridiculous at some points that I was thinking about my experiences in blog titles rather than the purer language of feelings, descriptions and honest reactions. I won’t go so far as to say that I made a mistake on those pilgrimages since I intended for those pilgrimages to invite a community to share the experience with me as if we were riding on a tandem bike together.
The Camino Frances that I plan to embark on in one-week’s time also has a deep community aspect to it. Part of the purpose of this pilgrimage is to study the hospitality infrastructure of the Camino to asses how much of it translates to our American experience and opportunities.
The Camino Community
But I have a second purpose as well. I want to bring back the raw experience of the Camino and its pilgrimage life and community so that I can share it with the American public. It seems to me that we are a people yearning for something, something more soulful and life-giving and I think the pilgrimage experience is part of the answer to our deep yearning. People who embark on these types of pilgrimages talk about how much it transforms their lives and develops life-long connections.
Turkish women harvesting potatoes, 2014
But in order to do that I will need to protect the raw experience this time. I have made a commitment to myself to experience first and interpret later. And, later does not mean every evening! It means after I return in November, have a chance to decompress, and allow the meaning of the experience to evolve over time.
What does that mean specifically? It means that I won’t be blogging AT ALL about the experience during the experience. I do plan to have some already-written blogs scheduled to be published over that time, but they will be more general in nature and not about the Camino experience itself.
I will, however, be sharing the experience through regular Facebook pictures and posts. I hope this will allow you to see some of what I am seeing and to follow along. But I am shooting for raw experience first and postponing “meaning-making” until much later.
If you want to follow you can simply go to my public Facebook page or “Friend” me so that the posts show up in your thread.
Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/brian.heron.73/
Brian Heron
Cultural Innovator and Spiritual Pilgrim