The Ethereal Effect of Pilgrimage
The Ethereal Effect of Pilgrimage
by Susan Valaer | Vancouver, WA
I revel in this feeling of smallness, of insignificance, here in Asturias. We move through this land like a speck of dust. The path will not remember me tomorrow, but how I feel at this moment will be with me forever.
A pilgrimage is not singular, without community or fellowship. Put two walkers together on any given evening, and they will recount with pleasure the climbs and descents of the day, the café they may have both happened upon, a particularly lovely view that spread out in the distance as they crested a hill. The joy in having shared the same path, even though not at the same moment, creates a unity and sense of combined experience that cannot be contained, cannot be replicated. Simply put, we want to discover how our new companion perceived the day in comparison to us, to re-live it again in the telling of our own perspective, and to connect over a shared view.
Our Camino may have occurred years in the past, but meeting a fellow pilgrim will bring the memories, like so many cairns along a neurological path, to the forefront of our heart and mind.
