I am still buzzing with the energy of Catherine’s post two days ago about her walk in England. Yes, her and Dana’s and friend’s walk. She took the situation and boiled it down for us here at Caminoheads. You know that she is a writer. Her book Finding Mercy in This Worldis recent and available you’ll.

Today I want to jump back into some of Catherine’s thoughts. Let me copy and paste two of her paragraphs right here:

“The English are a reserved folk always helpful in an exact and unphased sort of way. They are steady and resilient in the face of adversity and simply ‘carry on’ no matter what. There are no whiners or complainers here. They are good teachers in this way. We with our open hearts and our delight seem effusive in comparison, but then we can be teachers too. Here, the people live the old way, mind the sheep, work hard, love the land… it is easy to connect with that.

It is not the Camino and it is very much the Camino in its opportuny to extend kindness and gratitude and receive kindness with grateful humility.”

This has given me an idea or rather an idea has revealed itself. We have been talking about other Caminos, about the idea of us branching out to see what we can discover. And the old tried and true definition of a pilgrimage may need to be stretched and grown to accommodate this. It has been the thinking that the most important thing about a pilgrimage is the destination. That we go through hardship to get next to something in the end. That the value is in the completion of the process, to getting to the goal.

What if…. What if it is almost the other way around. And not that we don’t need you Saint James but what if we could redefine pilgrimage just for now. What if we take into account what we bring as individuals and groups to this. What if we are really talking about a gathering of “teachers” as Catherine calls us. This is what we have stumbled across on Phil’s Camino. We don’t really go anywhere physically here, just in circles, thousands of circles, but we do it together, willingly and enthusiastically, which is the key.

But the goal does seem to set the theme for the journey. There needs to be a theme to give it a “something”. Then there needs to be a shout out to gather a critical mass of “teachers” or the “someones”. Maybe the “somewhere” doesn’t matter all that much really. Oh yes, it needs to have a certain quietude so the group can make it’s own music so to speak. And it needs some level of facilities to accommodate the needs of the “teachers”. These are all things that occurred to us here at Phil’s Camino, a little tiny miniature situation but a situation.

Not long ago here at Phil’s Camino the idea came up that what we are running here is akin to the French salon. That is what we are talking about, right? We walk but we also talk and then we “figure things out”. Things, ideas and solutions start to occur, don’t they?

Well, OK, that’s over 500 words, my cutoff. Don’t want to burden you with my stuff. Time to walk. A little wet out this morning here at Phil’s Camino as I look out the window.

Salon loves, Felipe.