Temptation

One of the many books I’ve read about the Camino in the last few months (I think it was fiction) divided the French Way into three parts.

From Roncesvalles to Burgos signified life, Burgos to León was death, and León to Santiago was rebirth.

I’m not sure about that but I did hit a low point in the middle of the death part a couple days ago. It wasn’t my feet; I’ve been pretty lucky with them so far. It was my shoulders, both of which have old injuries that felt like spikes before I ever thought of the Camino.

I think I got them while nearly getting my arms torn off doing judo and ju jutsu. Thanks, guys...

My pack isn’t that heavy by wilderness or military standards. Probably 25 pounds at most. But lugging it all day every day caused major pain to those old injuries that kept getting worse no matter how I adjusted it. So much so that it almost drowned out everything else.

My neck was so stiff I could hardly move my head. I was really down.

Metaphorically speaking, I was tempted by the devil. In the wee hours, he whispered “ship your pack.”

People do. It costs 4 or 5 Euros a day. I don’t judge those who do, but it didn’t feel right for me. I almost did, but in the last moment I decided to try one more day.

It got a little better. Today I felt great lugging it over 20 miles. I’m so glad I didn’t.

Why make a deal of this? In the yoga school I’m connected with, we have a crude saying: “Own your shit.” As in acknowledge what you’re carrying.

I think if I brought stuff across the Atlantic for this pilgrimage , I should carry it.

It increases the physical challenge, but it also is a good metaphorical way to acknowledge the baggage we all carry, the heavy karma and burden of sin, original and individual.

If my body holds up, I hope to carry it to Santiago and beyond.

But I do look forward to laying the burden down, literally and metaphorically.

(Last thought: we’re often tempted to give up when something gets hard. Interval training, marathons, martial arts bouts, or—hardest—real life. But sometimes, not always, if we just hang on a just a little bit more things change and we can go on. Jesus said “those who hold out to the end will be saved.”)