One day while walking in France on the Chemin de Saint Jacques, we stopped to rest in the shade of a tree. A passerby noticed our packs on the ground and said, “Ah, vous portez votre maison à votre dos” — “Oh, you carry your house on your back.” That is pretty much what many a pilgrim does: carries all one’s essentials — however you define them — from town to town in a backpack.
Some pilgrims are minimalists: Misa talks about William who “wanted another challenge this time, so he’s not bringing a sleeping bag, a towel, nothing.” He eventually convinces her to ditch a major portion of what she is carrying. She decides, “I’m going to drop a lot of stuff in Leon. I’m actually planning on doing a little William, backpack thing. Just going to bring one pair of pants and this skirt I’m having on, so … my sleeping bag is going to go home … ”
Not everyone takes on the Camino with so few things. Others carry packs that look stuffed to the gills and exceptionally heavy. Not everyone “carries their house on their back” either. Each person walks his or her Camino and it is not for others to judge the worthiness of the effort of the pilgrim if they choose to send their packs on ahead of them by a transit service instead of lug them on their backs.
The Camino invites us to leave behind all the clutter that so fills up our space, lives, minds and hearts. How can it be that I quite easily can get by for three weeks with one change of clothes, not even a sleeping bag but a silk sleeping sheet, water, some bread and cheese, only one book and NO cellphone or internet? Why am I so unable to let go of all the stuff in my house which weighs me down and prevents me from becoming more free? I delight in knowing that I am capable of “carrying my house on my back” and living with so little — I have even been able to live in Central America in a one-room studio with just a bathroom and no kitchen, with just what I was able to bring with me in a suitcase. So I know the capacity to travel lightly exists within me; I just need to access it more frequently.
Singing some Gregorian chant in a church along the Via Podiensis in Basque Country, France
Having walked the Camino with my house on my back — perhaps not to the minimalist extent that Misa and William do — I know it is possible to sweep out the mental cobwebs, and move the emotional furniture to create space for my soul to connect with realities that are far greater than those of my little life. Unburdened by all the material distractions, my heart can explore those places that need attention in a way that ultimately refreshes and restores me. That healing space is a huge gift that Camino can give a pilgrim and which makes the effort worthwhile.
Pilgrim Lee AlisonU.S.A.
inspirationpilgrimage.blogspot.com
Completed first Camino over four springs, from 2004-2007 Lee Crawford and her partner, Anne Brown, walked the Camino and Chemin de Saint Jacques from Le Puy, France to Santiago de Compostela (1570 km) over four springs, 2004-2007.