Life is Henro

Our pilgrim friends are now walking into Santiago each day. They take the required photo in front of the Cathedral which they text to the group. Sometimes they share a few thoughts about the impact of the Camino before they send their heartfelt goodbyes. 

Enrique (Hervé in France) posted his picture with a comment that in all our time together we never shared why we were each on the Camino. It’s true, we never did.

If I was Catholic or even religious it would be easier to answer, but I’m not on the Camino to visit the relics of Santiago (Saint James). There are those who follow the way and feel that St. James is with them, interceding on their behalf to provide for them. This sometimes blurs into animist beliefs that connect the Camino to earlier pagan journeys that followed the Milky Way to the end to the earth.  That’s not me either.

Although I’m not religious, I have been drawn back over and over again to go on a pilgrimage. In the last 15 years I have completed seven. One was to Rome, another was a Buddhist pilgrimage in Japan, and the remainder were to Santiago.  In Japan, on the Shikoku pilgrimage, I saw a sign that simply said, “Life is Henro”, meaning Life is a Pilgrimage. For me, this is the closest I can come to describing the importance of these routes for me.  They are my life, distilled down to its simplest  form, without all the chaos that drags us away from being present in the moment. Full of struggles, beauty, connection; and yet also finite. My losses and setbacks that I carry  with me only make the moments of calm and awe more vivid. In this life the  joy of connecting with other people from diverse backgrounds becomes more important than debate or discord. What matters most is very simple: we have food, shelter, connection and health. I’m grateful to have all of these right now. 

I have a few friends and family members that are struggling with major health concerns right now. I’m walking into Santiago holding them close in my heart, as many other Pilgrims have done for centuries. I am humbled as I walk in the footsteps of so many others stretching back in time. I’m not convinced my wishes will be answered by Saint James or another power, but I will wish them anyway. 

I walk, pedal and push my bike along these routes to remind myself of this elemental and  simple lifewhere  I can be fully human and alive.