Polarities

Camino days 23-26

Yesterday began at dawn, high in the mountains of the western Leon province. I made my way up to the highest point in the Camino in the early hours.

After a 2 kilometer walk I arrived at the Cruz de Ferro. It is a tradition on the Camino to carry a rock with you to represent a burden you want to let go of and to leave it at the foot of this cross as you pass. I had a rock that I had brought from St. Jean Pied du Port and during the weeks I was carrying it I had clearly identified what I wanted to leave behind. It was a powerful moment in the dawn light, completely alone, at the highest altitude of the Camino, to leave this burden at this place where so many others had left theirs.

The previous day had been almost entirely uphill. But yesterday included a treacherous steep downhill stretch for miles. The greatest challenge at the beginning was that there were spectacular vistas:

And yet it wasn’t possible to gaze at them while walking because the path was full of all kinds of treacherous rock formations, boulders, loose rocks, gravel - and necessitated utmost attention. And this is a metaphor for life I think. We want to keep the great vistas in mind but daily life requires a certain kind of focus that doesn’t always allow the bigger picture in.

In the end it took me six hours of carefully finding strategic foot placements - one step after another - supremely grateful for my trekking poles that helped enormously.

These polarities of up and down, of big picture and close focus, of inner experience and outer action, of dark and light are in a constant flux - here on the Camino and in all of life. After that soft misty dark of dawn, the day became brilliantly hot and bright. After yesterday’s intensely challenging downhill there was another uphill today. And tomorrow as well.

Onward!

Peace and Love from Villafranca del Bierzo

Peeka