On Foot to Find the Meaning of Life
Howard & Hilda Hilton
| The following article first appeared in the CSJ Bulletin no. 67 in September 1999, and is included here by kind permission of Herr Bruno Kunz, the editor of Pfarrei Forum, the authors of the article, and the editor of our own Bulletin. You may quote reasonable extracts without permission, though we would appreciate an acknowledgement. For more substantial use, please contact the Secretary. |
Howard Hilton writes: "Last month I was in Switzerland and had a few days cycling, from Zürich (the home of my wife's family) eastwards along the lakes to the Rhine and then north and west along the river to the Bodensee. As I crossed the causeway at the eastern end of the Zürichsee I was intrigued to see small Jakobsweg signs on the lamp-posts (like the yellow Wanderweg signs, but brown). When I arrived at Rapperswil (the town at the northern side) and walked round the old town I was again intrigued to see a sign on the front of a house showing the distance in kilometres to Santiago. As I stood gazing at it, a young woman saw my interest and immediately rushed off to bring the householder, who was just walking up the street, and introduce me to him. It turned out to be a Herr Bruno Kunz, a psychologist and adviser on careers, who is a devoted pilgrim and leader of pilgrim groups to Compostela. We had an interesting chat, during which he showed me a copy of the St Gallen Diocesan Magazine, Pfarrei Forum, 3 July/6 August, 1999, in which there was the account of an interview with their reporter. The text, reproduced below, was translated by Hilda Hilton.
Rapperswil is an interesting place, not too far from the great pilgrimage
centre of Einsiedeln, with its Black Madonna. It is in the Canton of St
Gallen, and St Gall was, I believe, a Celtic missionary monk. Also, the
Youth Hostel in Rapperswil is in a suburb of the town called Jona, which
sounds very much like Iona.
The old pilgrim route to Santiago de Compostela has become again,
today, a magnet for people who wish to become pilgrims. Here is an interview
with Bruno Kunz (psychologist and careers adviser from Rapperswil) who has
walked the way many times.
Forum: People say "To be a pilgrim is to pray with your feet". Would you agree with that?
Bruno Kunz: To go on a pilgrimage is an experience for the
whole human being; the person brings body and soul to the pilgrim path.
The way to Santiago is long, and can be arduous. A couple of small blisters
on a foot can make the walk a path of suffering, will slow the pilgrim down,
and may even bring the journey to a halt. In such circumstances the body
unintentionally forces the pilgrim to think about the path he has chosen.
The grappling with the hardships and difficulties on the route soon takes
on a spiritual dimension. On the other side of the coin, all the beautiful
experiences on the pilgrimage (an unexpectedly warm reception somewhere
for example) will not be taken for granted either. Being aware of, and accepting
with gratitude, everything that happens to me on the Camino is for
me the best form of prayer. The way of St James is a good place to learn
this awareness and acceptance.
Forum: What makes the pilgrimage to Santiago so attractive?
Bruno Kunz: Going on a pilgrimage is an antidote to our flat, prosaic, technical world. Mankind has always looked for paths where he can discover traces of the essence of life; to centre himself on a spiritual goal belongs to his humanity and gives his actions deeper meaning. The Camino is such a path and leads to a destination with great symbolic power. Santiago means something different for everybody. For some it is the grave of St James, for many it has become a metaphor for a great longing which is impossible to describe.
To begin with, Santiago is geographically in a special place. It lies in
the most north-western tip of Spain and here, at Cape Finisterre, the world
ended for the people of the Middle Ages. Moreover, the knowledge that through
the centuries hundreds of thousands of pilgrims have followed this path
of great yearning makes us realise that the Camino has "stood the
test" and that it is a special path.
Forum: How religious are the people who go on the pilgrimage?
Bruno Kunz: People go on pilgrimage for a variety of reasons.
It is said that we each set off as a walker, a sportsman, an adventurer,
an art historian, or simply as a lover of nature, but sooner or later we
all become pilgrims. It is a fact that most people do not cite religion
as their primary reason for choosing to walk the Camino, but most
are moved by the pilgrimage. One makes new experiences of oneself, and also
probably of God. I know several people who had no longer any contact with
their church before their journey and who on their pilgrimage found a new,
uncramped entry point into our western culture and their church. It is particularly
good to see that what binds pilgrims together is not the particular creeds
or denominations, but the shared experience of the Camino. It is
also interesting to note that the idea of pilgrimage is being rediscovered
in the Protestant Church.
Forum: What is the age range of people on the Camino?
Bruno Kunz: One meets people of all age groups. Often they
are people who are starting on a new phase of their life, such as recently
retired people, or those who have come to a crucial point in their life
and want to give it a new direction. Also, numerous groups of young people
from many countries walk single stages of the Camino.
Forum: What is your personal experience as a pilgrim?
Bruno Kunz: On the Camino I have rediscovered the oldest form of travelling and have learned to appreciate the slow, sometimes laborious way forward. To travel on foot is meditative and a recuperation for body and soul, and when these travels are also centred upon a spiritual goal there is an added dimension giving strength and energy. The Camino has influenced me so much that I feel again and again the desire to travel this path of meaning. Alone, and also with groups, I want again to be made conscious that we are all pilgrims on our journey through life.
Paul Höster, in his Forty days long (published by Georgs-Verlag) has said "The mystery of the Camino is the intensity of experience." I have not experienced anything spectacular on my way to Santiago, but on my pilgrimages I have become more open and more thankful for all the large and small signs and encounters that the Camino has revealed to me. Nothing is accidental there: not the course of the path, not the places where the churches and bridges are standing, not the people we meet. In everyday life we rarely have time to work through our experiences and, as Ignatius says, "to taste them in their profundity and make them a part of ourselves." On my long and above all slow and sometimes lonely course along the Camino I was given this time to penetrate more deeply into life and to better understand my personal path. The pilgrimage has led me to meditation itself, and to a more meditative life.
Confraternity of St James Bulletin, no 67 (September 1999)