Thursday, July 7, 2011
The last blog translated in English for Karin- by Google (and me…)
On my Bucket List, I had this dream to walk the Camino de Santiago, enough of it anyway to earn the Campostela certificate. This Blog has told the story of my dream from the start and as I continued closer to the departure date. I could share every day on the Camino with you, when I somewhere along the route had the opportunity to find a computer with Internet access. I shared with you the best of my 992 photos. And now you have read my whole story about the Camino de Santiago. All that remains is to ask: was it worth it? Did I get what I was looking for?
Therefore I conclude the series with the following thoughts to share with you who have regularly read my blog:
Anything is possible!
You can so easily get caught up in negative thoughts and behavior. There is always someone better off than you in a certain area. Some guys can go through much less years of college education than I did, and still earn a lot more money than I do. Some people own the houses in which they live. Some people’s dream of buying a new car become true so easily, and then it is not the most basic model (at the moment I am considering to buy a Toyota Aygo, but in my deepest heart, I wish that a Toyota Hilux 3.0 D4D DC would be possible!)
Some people are faster than me on a bicycle, most people attain fitness much faster than me. There are just so many things about which a person can compare yourself with others. And then you see only a fraction of the truth!
There may be other people who would love to be your position! The Camino is a great opportunity to lay down what lies behind you. It is the one opportunity to REALLY scale down in your life! For it to be a good experience, you really need to travel light. And that equalize us all. On the trail you can not judge anyone by their appearance, and think where he fits into society, or how much he owns. We all have approximately the same size backpack, we all have more or less the same quality boots (which some could buy with ease immediately and others on their credit cards, like I have paid mine on budget for 6 months.) We all have but 2-3 sets of clothes, and a poncho or raincoat on this journey with us. Rumors had it that the next Prime Minister of Ireland was on Camino with us somewhere on the French route, and Fernando Alonso are believed to bike 200 kilometres on the Camino over six days in August’s three-week break in Formula One GP. You just never know who somebody next to you in the Albergue is in real life, and it really doesn’t matter either! We are all just Pilgrims and therefore treat each other with the utmost respect. That’s what we are- each one of us-just a pilgrim on a route towards the final destination. While each one of us is suffering with our own blisters on our feet! In our everyday lives this is also the truth. For Christians, life as a pilgrim in this world is a fairly common theme in the New Testament.
Because you only try to carry the minimum, like 10 kg, you learn gratitude for every night you have a bed available to you, so that you don’t need to sleep on someone’s porch. You learn gratitude for water along the way, and you are aware of how dependent you are of finding have half a liter of water every few hours. Sometimes sudden unexpected pleasure is found in a café that serves delicious coffee. Food is suddenly no longer taken for granted, and even a tin of beans and pork bellies gives you energy for another part of the journey. You are grateful when the Pilgrim’s menu is well prepared, you are happy when the meal is just acceptable. And you miss a decent steak with mushroomsauce, as you least can afford once a month at home.
Because you leave your own people behind, the longing for them becomes a very loyal companion on the Camino. If you walk without your partner, then you wish he / she was seeing the sunrise alongside you, or the rising of the mist far below in the valleys. You miss the sound of your children’s voices, and forget the shrill pitch that they use to yell at one another.
You miss your good friends, those few friends who over many years vecame part of your being, while sitting around many campfires, shared many bottles of red wine. Those midnight chats about the path we walk in life. If no one spoke your language today, and no one understands your Boertjie English, it’s nice to suddenly meet someone from your own country! Then you realize how precious your own language for you.
A man discovers how precious Silence is! During a long day of walking in nature, we realise how noisy life has truly become, when you experience true silence. At home, I struggle not to turn on the radio to break the silence. But on the Camino, you get to know silence personally. And it becomes a good friend. It reaches your busy heart, and quieten it down. The rush of life falls away, a peace descends on you. And in that silence you hear God whispering to you.
I have experienced a feeling of peace in cathedrals and churches, some even dating back to the 11th century. This is despite some friends who warned about Freemason symbols, and some who are very critical of the Roman Catholic church. But for me- this I saw: there are buildings that have for centuries been used by the common people to escape from their everyday life, with the belief that they can meet their Heavenly Father there. The high church steeples in small towns have proclaimed for generations of travelers that God is present here. My own belief is not built on sacred buildings. But in this space of silence and worship, I could often sit for very long, unhindered, and pray about things and for people whom I love dearly.
That experience is not limited to sacred buildings on the Camino. My most profound experience of God’s presence was at a creek one Sunday morning just after 09h00, when I believe my church back home also prayed for me. Certain experiences in life can not be described using words, because it happens in the heart, and is larger than any human words. “Where peaceful waters flow” in Psalm 23 will never be anything else than a very powerful image in my mind in the future, I understand it much better because I have been there … It’s not because it is an old, old stream in Spain, it is because I tried to be quiet enough to hear God. “Draw near unto God and He will draw near …” is one of the promises in the New Testament.
It could also have happened alongside the pond in our home town, the place itself is not important, the deeper thirst for more is.
Yes, this pilgrimage did cost me in many ways. But I think I have a made a good investment. I wanted some questions about my own life struggles answered, and I did find it. Hopefully my family, my friends and my church can experience the difference in my life. I realize how great the power of old habits and old thoughts can be, sucking me back into my old life. But I will try my best to continue thinking new thoughts, positive thoughts, and to live for what I believe in. Because I learned during the difficult days of the Camino that whining and complaining will never help me reach my goal. Focus on the end goal, and use all the power available to mem, keeping back no reserves, to go big or go home. And step by step my end goal will be reached. Although there may be a mountain or two between you and your destiny-even a mountain is not invincible when you’re serious enough about reaching the top. Did I get what I was looking for? Yes, definitely.
Thank you for taking this journey with me, on my blog. Thanks for those constructive comments and encouragement even during difficult days, it has meant much more to me than you will ever know. Thank you for the many who read it, even if you said nothing. It was nice to see how many people visited my blog. And thank you even for the people who do not share my belief, but granted me the opertunity in this public forum, to tell my story, without negative criticism.
Posted by Ewald Schmidt at 10:46 AM 4 com
Ewald se Camino 2011 
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