I’m at the 300Km mark as I write this short note.
I’m in a City called Burgos, a European Heritage site, the home of El Cid, a wonderful Cathedral and the Museum of Evolution of Man.
I’ve just walked through Atapuerca, a famous pre-historic dig site, where they discovered a new species of humans that lived there 800,000 years ago. It’s defies understanding that we are a mere 200,000 years old as a species, and that our “ancestors” started in Africa and exited northwards two million years ago.
In the history of out planet, we pop up in the last 0.1 percent of the whole time of earth.. We are a BLIP on the radar of earth.
We were clever, we figured out tools and fire..
This changed our diet.
We are more proteins and fats, allowing our brains to expand in capacity.
Have you heard of the Global Warming “Hockey Stick” curve graph?
It’s a fantastic piece of work, that’s been assembled from Ice-core samples taken from the highest mountains, and Coral samples taken from the deepest seas and from trees and rocks and swamps, all over our planet.
The data was all pulled together in one place, it shows a gentle downward slope for hundreds of thousands of years, until the Industrial Revolution, when we hit the sharp upturn of the hockey stick shape.
This is Humans making global warming, and it’s only 150 years old.
In the whole 2 million years of Homo Erectus, in the blink of an eye, we have virtually destroyed our planet.. in the .01% of that .01% we have caused grievous bodily harm to our home..
It’s a sobering thought, as I walk the Camino..
It’s just one of a lot of sobering thoughts.
It’s a rare thing that one might have so much time to be alone.
This year is the busiest year of the Camino in History.
It’s a well oiled machine, and is coping well with the sudden influx of tourists.
I am part of the problem in BOTH stories.
The average person I meet on a daily walk is from Mid-West America, they tend to be a couple, they tend to be retired, and they love walking..
There are not many people who are overtly walking the Camino from a religious perspective these days.
Most people walking the Camino do have a “theme” for their walk however. One lovely guy had lost his wife and brother in the same year, another her father.
Mostly, all of the people I chat too are walking to “find” themselves..
It’s a strange concept.
I don’t think any of them ever “lost” themselves, it’s just that the structure of work and family can bend and twist us into a person who we don’t like anymore.
Perhaps our relationship failed, because we were too controlling.
Perhaps Work has compromised our moral selves.
Perhaps our beliefs in God, the church, politicians or our fellow man have finally shown us that what we are being told, isn’t actually the truth..
And so they walk..
I still don’t know why I’m walking.
I love my life, as topsy-turvy as it currently is..
I love myself, even with all he flaws and jagged edges..
I’m walking because a great friend asked me to go with him for company.
Within a week, fate had drawn him back to the UK because of a death in the family. Leaving me alone.
Abandonment – that’s long been a thing of mine, now I’ve been abandoned on the Camino!
That didn’t hold any power either! I’m happy as a sand-boy..
It wasn’t a lesson about self-reliance, I’ve “got this” and am not worried..
Plenty could go wrong, I might fall of a cliff, honestly, if I go today, I’ll be satisfied with what I’ve had! I’m loving life!
And so I continue to walk, there’s another 500km left to do, and as my beloved friend who had to go home would have said “This Camino’s not going to walk itself!”
I try to walk as much as I can with an empty mind.
I speak to the occasional person on the path.
I’ve already run two walking diagnostic sessions, and offered exercises to help these people out!
I seem to be a wondering Daoist sage these days
A roll I’m very happy with..
With respect to Global Warming, and the general stupidity of Man..
I’ll just have to be Daoistic about that too.
I’ll walk as lightly as I can, I’ll help whomever I can as I walk, I’ll leave no trace, and go with a big cheesy smile on my face..
Nothing else to be done!
Hao La!
Much love to all my family, Students and Friends..