This is a short note to clear up some confusion generated in my last post. Yes, the wheels came off, but if there is one thing I have learned in this life, it is how to put the wheels back on. To make a long — and boring — story short, do not plan to stay in Poladura de los Tercios on the Camino San Salvador on a Sunday. The waters I muddied will run clear soon enough.
But not here in Minneapolis where I sit drinking a beer and watching the rain pouring down. My flight to Paris, already delayed, will hopefully get me to Charles de Gaulle in time to catch my final leg to Biarritz.
By my side is my backpack with all the earthly goods I will bring with me on my Hybrid Camino. It all weighs in under 15 pounds, including my trademark trash can liner rain jacket (which would be ineffective in this Minnesota rainstorm). Juliette cut the head and arm holes in the bag last night.
It also includes a book I brought along. I had been debating whether to bring St Augustine’s Confessions or Annie Dillard’s Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. Although I have started each one, I decided to read a random sample of each one and let that be the decider.
I opened Confessions to Augustine’s discussion of time. Auspicious, given the title of my last post, and definitely a subject I love to think about. I couldn’t get a vibe from a few random samplings of Pilgrim, but given its title and my upcoming role, I selected that book. Augustine can be a bit heavy and more suited to sedentary reading and pondering. I can read a bit of Annie and contemplate while on the go.
So…sorry for any confusion. Rain is clearing up. I will be boarding soon. Next post from the Camino!
Ultreia et suseia!
I’m looking forward to following your journey, again! Walking the Camino is on my short-list Bucket List, ideally with the kids when they are teens-ish. I hope and pray you have a wonderful journey!
LikeLike
Thanks for sharing your adventures. On, on! ¡Buen Camino!
LikeLike
I did a little research on both books with a little help from AI. These choices of books are only ones a man undergoing an intense psychic exploration of his internal landscape would choose. A journey toward individuation. St Augustine made his journey thru facing, with complete honesty, his tension of the opposites: lusty pleasures, memories of his sins vs the ego longing to heal its painful split from God.
And Dillards battleground is confronting the horror, waste and cruelty of nature and her encounters with the terrifying awe-inspiring presence of the divine. Both are unifying the opposites, transcending into a third…. wholeness, union with the Divine.
What binds these two books is that neither author is satisfied with the secondhand, experience of religious dogma …both Augustine and Dillard demand a direct visceral experience of the Divine. Both underwent the terrifying psychic explosion or psychological breakdown described in their books, needed to crack open the false persona. This is a solitary journey. Fare thee well.
The Hero’s Journey.
LikeLike
I must glimpse what is beyond the ego.
LikeLike
Glad you got there Jim.. You certainly ere meeting some interesting people along the way.
I was interested that you are reading the book by Annie Dillard. I just saw her obituary a couple of days ago. I don’t know if you knew that I went to a small womens’ college called Hollins in Roanoke, VA. Annie Dillard lived there and was married for several years to one of the English profs (the head of the Engish department if I recall correctly) , Richard Dillard. Tinker Mountain was part of the campus as was Tinker Creek. Anyway, the Dillards were divorced and she moved away but contiued writing for many years.
Looking forward to your next installment!
Mary Claire
LikeLike
How interesting about Annie. Fin de Camino. She will probably be best remembered for Pilgrim, which has little to do with the Camino and more to do with the Wranch! I read a short essay by her about witnessing an eclipse worth looking up.
LikeLike
Annie died September 15, the day I arrived in St Jean Pied de Port.
LikeLike