Camino Spiritual Quotes

There is of course a deep spiritual need which the pilgrimage seems to satisfy, particularly for those hardy enough to tackle the journey on foot.

Has recorrido un largo camino, y no lo sabes. Tienes un largo camino por recorrer, y sabes lo que eso significa.

Walking the Camino de Santiago taught me the wonders of physical challenge, the wonders of spiritual freedom, and the wonders of baby powder.

—No te enojes conmigo, ¡oh Sublime! —dijo el joven—. No te he dicho esto para buscar una controversia contigo. Tienes razón cuando dices que las opiniones sirven de poco. Pero permíteme que añada esto otro: no he dudado ni un momento de ti. No he dudado ni un momento que eres Buda, que has alcanzado la meta, la más alta, hacia la cual se encaminan tantos miles de brahmanes e hijos de brahmanes. Tú has encontrado la redención de la muerte. La has logrado por tu propia búsqueda, en tu propio camino, pensando, meditando por el conocimiento, por inspiración. ¡No la has alcanzado por una doctrina! ¡Y yo creo, oh Sublime, que a nadie se le puede procurar la redención por una doctrina! ¡A nadie podrás, oh Venerable, decir ni comunicar por palabras o por una doctrina lo que te sucedió en el momento de tu transfiguración!—

Pain and illness have clobbered my relationship with my physical self for so long. I hadn't realized how slowly pain had eroded my connection to my living flesh, my organs, my skin, and my muscles. I had spent so much of my professional energy and expertise talking about the inherent necessity of embodiment and connection and integration on the path toward healing, but I had not recognized this slow fading away of my own connection with my physical self. Something erupted on the Camino, maybe a survival reflex, and my emotional and spiritual self knew it could not make this particular journey without the agreement of my physical self.

Pilgrimage is a journey of discovery—the find may be inside oneself, it may be a fresh appreciation of nature, or the pleasure of opting out of the real world for a while; it might be the delight in making new friends in a very random but quite intense way.

In the spring of 2015, I went to Spain to walk for a week on the Camino de Santiago, the medieval route that has been used for centuries by pilgrims demonstrating their devotion, and now by spiritual seekers looking for renewal. Ever since I studied medieval art in college, walking the Camino had been a dream of mine. I loved the idea of a moderately sized adventure, one that was about walking, not running, and still had the safety of towns and sleeping on mats on the floor instead of inside tents. I set off with underprepared feet, too much in my backpack, thirteen words of Spanish and my copy of Eat Pray Love.

Be yourself and be determined,” he says. “Even if you don’t know what you want, you won’t know if you are not determined.

Optimists are intrinsically happier and happiness breeds further happiness. Light a candle rather than curse the darkness and do not wait for someone else to light it; do it yourself.

Choose your life partner wisely; find one who makes you laugh and smile, who shares your interests and loves you for who you are, not what they want you to be; choose a partner who is strong but gentle with it; choose a partner you want to wake up beside every morning for the rest of your life. Choose a partner who would walk the Camino with you.

May you awaken each day with a heart attuned to the sacred rhythms of your becoming, a heart that knows how to listen for the quiet, steady whisper of growth that lies hidden beneath the surface of your daily life. As the butterfly emerges from its cocoon, transformed and radiant, so too may you honor the tender and intricate process by which your soul unfolds, ever towards the light of its true essence.

For though I left the Camino, it never left me,

el camino a la vida es a través de la muerte y resurrección por la crucifixión.