Carpe Diem Special #79, The Pilgrimage to Santiago De Compostela (part 5)

 

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Next to our pilgrimage on Shikoku Island we are also on a pilgrimage in the Northern part of Spain. We are walking the Camino or The Way of Saint James (Santiago De Compostela). We are on this pilgrimage together with Paulo Coelho, who wrote "The Pilgrimage" in 1987 after he walked the Camino.
In our last CD Special we visited a sorcerer/monk and learned about the significance of the Tarot along the Way of St. James and in The Tradition. While on their way (Petrus and Paulo) they have deep religious, spiritual conversations and in one of those conversations Petrus says:

[...] " Let’s forget all of our discussion about God. God is in everything around us. He has to be felt and lived. And here I am trying to transform him into a problem in logic so that you can understand him. Keep doing the exercise of walking slowly, and you will learn more and more about his presence." [...] (Source: The Pilgrimage by Paulo Coelho).

It is here were we can feel (or see) the connection with our other Pilgrimage on Shikoku. This thought, which Petrus expressed in the above quote, is so the same as the feeling of being one with Buddha in Buddhism or the feeling of NaraNaraYana (God in nature, nature in God) and the special greeting "Namaste" has also the same intensity.
Is that maybe the goal of this month of pilgrimages? To learn about the idea 'There is Only One God' in all religions? Is the Islamic Hajj ... not the same as all the other pilgrimages? I think that we are walking these pilgrimages together with a thousand others, with thousand different thoughts and ideas, but all with the same goal "Finding Enlightenment".

Santiago Pilgrim

A pilgrimage (ans I think this idea is the same for our virtual pilgrimage) binds different people together as one, we all are pilgrims on our path to Enlightenment or Fullfilment or ... what other idea you will mention.

Paulo went on his pilgrimage to Santiago to find his sword back, his spiritual goal, his spiritual tasks, and for sure it will not be easy, but at the end of his pilgrimage he will find his sword back. But that we will see in our next month of Carpe Diem in which we will walk the second part of the Shikoku Pilgrimage and the second part of Paulo's pilgrimage to Santiago.

one with the Creator
as I walk through the rainforest -
the sound of raindrops

(c) Chèvrefeuille

This Special episode will stay on until March 1st 11.59 AM (CET) and is NOW OPEN for your submissions. I will (try to) post our next episode, Kongofukuji (Temple 38), later on today.