Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Feeling with the Heart

On the plateau above Le Puy on the first morning's walk

“The best and most beautiful things in the world
cannot be seen, nor touched, 
but are felt in the heart.”

~Helen Keller

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Mist in the hills surrounding O'Cebreiro

Mist seen in valleys below on the descent from O'Cebreiro
"What’s it like to be back? We can’t seem to stop walking, and on one of our impromptu hikes, Lisa observed: “I thought it would be somehow more . . . spiritual.”
I thought it would be more spiritual, too. Originally, we’d planned to walk the questions posed in John’s gospel, pondering one question each day. There are some great ones, worthy of weighty consideration: “What are you looking for?” “Do you want to be made well?” “Do you also want to go away?” And Pilate’s hauntingly cynical: “What is truth?”

On the Camino, however, the questions that consumed us were quite different: “Was that the alarm?” “Should I be paying attention to this pain?” “Can we stop for a cafĂ© con leche?” “Are we there yet?”
So much for John’s questions.

But I could tell you the phases of the moon along the trek, when the first light comes, how the sun glints off the lantern of the cathedral of Santiago. I could describe magical forests in Galicia and how the morning mists create islands of the hills surrounding O’Cebreiro"....

"This is not the spirituality we anticipated; it’s the spirituality we got."

~ Martha E. Stortz
an article in Santa Clara Magazine
Summer 2010 

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Let your God look upon you

 Between Pech Ibert and Cajarc
"Be silent.

Be still.

Wait before your God.

Say nothing.

Ask nothing.

Be still.

Let your God look upon you.

That is all."


Monday, December 13, 2010

"Thursday's child has far to go!"

 Distance to Santiago on sign on outskirts of Le-Puy-en-Velay

 "Only those who will risk going too far 
can possibly find out how far they can go."
-- T.S. Eliot
Incidentally, there was another sign 
not too many metres away from this one 
that gave another, even longer, distance estimate. 
It is probably as well I never noticed it at the time!!

And yes, I am a 'Thursday's child'
-prophetic that saying!

Friday, December 3, 2010

Rain on a spiderweb

seen soon after leaving Domaine des Mathieux, the day after heavy rain had fallen
 
"I am sure it is a great mistake always to know
enough to go in when it rains.  
One may keep snug and dry by such knowledge, 
but one misses a world of loveliness."

~Adeline Knapp