Some time ago Pilgrimageandplace highlighted the Shikoku pilgrimage in Japan. (See here)
The route of the 88 temples.
The Kumano Kodō, another set of pilgrimage routes in Japan, already has connections with the Camino the Santiago. And is also on the World Heritage List.
"The Japanese government is hoping to take advantage of the Camino de Santiago to develop the niche religious tourism sector." "The head of the Galicia regional government, Alberto Núñez Feijoó, and the governor of Japan’s Kagawa province, on the central island of Shikoku, recently signed an agreement to work together to promote the Shikoku Pilgrimage, known as the Way of the 88 Temples." "The Japanese government is hoping to take advantage of the Camino de Santiago to develop a niche religious tourism sector, creating its own pilgrimage circuit by uniting the two routes. The hope is that it will help boost the country’s ailing economy, as well as opening up what is still a largely insular society that has one of the lowest immigration levels in the developed world.
As with the Camino de Santiago, Japanese tourism authorities will be hoping to attract visitors also interested in trying local cuisine. The local Udon noodle and seaweed soup that comes in dozens of varieties is among the best-known dishes in the region. The area also has its own native species of chicken, as well as its particular way of preparing tuna and sea bass sashimi." (source article see below)
This introduction gives you some pointers and thoughts on pilgrimage and transformation. Do people change while walking a camino? Yes, people always change while performing. OK, but tell me more... Just read on and pick what you like...
Spirituality
First on spirituality, giving a clue where a transformation could occur. Not trying to define the concept ;-)
Recently I read an article from Fisher on four domains of spiritual wellbeing, a nice overview:
"spiritual health is a dynamic state of being, shown by the extent to which people live in harmony within relationships in the following domains of spiritual wellbeing:
1. Personal domain (wherein one intra-relates with oneself with regards to meaning, purpose and values in life. The human spirit creates selfawareness, relating to self-esteem and identity). 2. Communal domain (as expressed in the quality and depth of interpersonal relationships, between self and others, relating to morality and culture. This includes love, justice, hope, and faith in humanity). 3. Environmental domain (past care and nurture for the physical and biological, to a sense of awe and wonder; for some, the notion of unity or connectedness with the environment). 4. Transcendental domain (Relationship of self with some-thing or some-One beyond the human level, a Transcendent Other (i.e., ultimate concern, cosmic force, transcendent reality, or God). This involves faith toward, adoration and worship of, the source of Mystery of the universe."
(Assessing Spiritual Health via Four Domains of Spiritual Wellbeing: The SH4DI
CNN just published an update on seven secular pilgrimages that could change your life.
Perhaps you can guess the three on the picture?
The others are: Kumano Kodo (Japan), Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, Mount Kailash Pilgrimage (Tibet), Pilgrims' Way to Canterbury (England) and Char Dham (India).
I think CNN left out a rising star: Olavs route in Norway! So look here for this one (Olavs Route). And perhaps walking to Canterbury gives you appetite to follow on the Via Francigena through France, Switzerland and Italy to Rome.
My fellow weblog The Pilgrim's Gaze just published a spot for a documentary The Power of St James' Way.
"The Power of Saint James’ Way is a documentary that contains true stories of pilgrims whose pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela radically changed their lives. Amazing witnesses that testify this phenomenon plus explanations from experts in different disciplines that try to identify why these changes may occur." See it here.
And finally some articles and books, a few among the many.
Transformative Pilgrimage, William S. Schmidt, Journal of Spirituality in Mental Health, 2009 (article)
We Make the Way by Walking: Spiritual Pilgrimage and Transformative Learning While Walking the Camino De Santiago, Elizabeth J. Tisdell (article)
Spiritual Tourism, Travel and Religious practice in Western Society, Alex Norman (book)
Pilgrimage and Healing, Jill Dubisch and Michael Winkelman (book)
These days (October 15-18, 2015) la Cidade da Cultura (City of Culture) holds Fairway, a forum on the camino and pilgrimage. A forum with many exhibitors, speakers and touroperators. What already was a rumour, gets more substantial.
One of the speakers on the conference is Carmen Estevez, writer, sister of Martin Sheen and aunt of Emilio Estevez.
Today the blog is an inspiring one. Thinking of place and pilgrimage...
I like you to meet four pieces:
Rufin, O Donohue, Milosz
and a little movie by me.
F i r s t
"Immortelle randonnée : Compostelle malgré moi"
A text from the book Immortelle randonnée by Jean-Christophe Rufin on a new walking species.
The text on the picture is Rufin's (in Dutch), the picture is mine. Taken on the route Rufin took: The Camino Primitivo.
But here's the text in English:
Silently the awareness grew that inside of me a very pleasant companion was hiding: the emptyness. My mind didn't produce images or thoughts and certainly no intentions. Everything I ever knew faded away and I felt no urge whatsoever to dig it up.
Discovering a landscape, I didn't compare it to Corsica or whatever place I once visited.
I saw it all with a refreshing new look and received the complexity of the world in a brain that again was as simple as a reptile or a sparrow. I was a new human, liberated from it's memory, desires and ambitions. A special kind of homo erectus: the walking species.
(As the book isn't translated in English yet the translation is mine)
S e c o n d
"For a New Beginning"
In out-of-the-way places of the heart, Where your thoughts never think to wander, This beginning has been quietly forming, Waiting until you were ready to emerge.
For a long time it has watched your desire, Feeling the emptiness growing inside you, Noticing how you willed yourself on, Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.
It watched you play with the seduction of safety And the gray promises that sameness whispered, Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent, Wondered would you always live like this.
Then the delight, when your courage kindled, And out you stepped onto new ground, Your eyes young again with energy and dream, A path of plenitude opening before you.
Though your destination is not yet clear You can trust the promise of this opening; Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning That is at one with your life’s desire.
Awaken your spirit to adventure; Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk; Soon you will be home in a new rhythm, For your soul senses the world that awaits you.
John O’Donohue
T h i r d
"On Pilgrimage"
May the smell of thyme and lavender accompany us on our journey
To a province that does not know how lucky it is
For it was, among all the hidden corners of the earth,
The only one chosen and visited.
We tended toward the Place but no signs led there.
Till it revealed itself in a pastoral valley
Between mountains that look older than memory,
By a narrow river humming at the grotto.
May the taste of wine and roast meat stay with us
As it did when we used to feast in the clearings,
Searching, not finding, gathering rumors,
Always comforted by the brightness of the day.
May the gentle mountains and the bells of the flocks
The 2014 movie is based on a book by John Green and directed by Josh Boone.
Reviewers indicate it's very sad but very beautiful. Part of the movie was filmed in Amsterdam. And a special scene, where main actors kiss, involves a bench they're on.
Young adults choose this scene and this spot as their pilgrim destination, rivalling the House of Anne Frank. The book and film induce the young 'to walk in the footsteps of their young heroes' as Tagholm says in his article, see below.
Map to The Fault of our Stars, with a 75 minutes walk to discover the movies hotspots. (This map and descriptions are in Dutch Language, maps however are universal;-)
