This is an attempt to provide some objective factual information to help people be aware of and explore further the inner aspects of the Camino experience. There's lots of expertise on this site devoted to the practical external aspects of the journey, but as we know, one thing that distinguishes the Camino from other walks is that you travel on the inside too, often to places you weren't expecting to get to. Recent discussions of this aspect, though interesting, have tended to become arguments over who's chosen the best route rather than a free sharing of information about them.
Whether you are non-religious or religious, you are going to encounter some movement along the path to self-discovery and personal growth. This often involves meeting difficulties inside yourself, like resistance, fears, grief, grievances and old emotions, that you struggle to overcome. It's a learning experience. We all carry heavy emotional backpacks that we need to unload. Then we grow and find it easier to tune into a broader and deeper consciousness of the beauty around us, the peace within, the interconnectedness of everything and everyone, a benevolent force that seems to guides us, and so on.
John Brierley's Camino Guides provide examples of the interior journey as well as the exterior. His bibliography gives you plenty of books to explore further if you wish. There has been an explosion of spiritual literature unattached to traditional religion in recent years, some of it of very high quality. The non-religious and religious alike can use it to extend their perception and experience of the world.
For those who want to steer clear of the word God, Eckhart Tolle's series of books, The Power of Now, Practising the Power of Now, and A New Earth, together offer you a clear and straightforward inner camino toward fuller consciousness.
For those who prefer a scientific approach, studying the film What the Bleep Do We Know is a good start. The Field by Lynne McTaggart can give you something weightier to get your teeth in to.
For those who would like to engage with a wise, informative, non-judgmental and humorous God, The Conversations With God series of 8 or 9 books offers another camino, that you can dip into or walk all the way.
For those who are serious about taking the road, the self-study programmes given to us in recent times by 'J', as he is referred to in The Disappearance of the Universe, provide a powerful route to taking control of your mind and opening up your heart. Focus on working through the first hundred lessons in the workbook in A Course in Miracles and then you'll probably be ready to move on to the advanced course delivered more recently, The Art of Spiritual Peacemaking.
I'm offering these as an alternative to a choice between religion and atheism with nothing in between. In fact we might do well, as suggested in Tomorrow's God, to abandon the word God altogether, to overcome the limiting beliefs attached to it as a term for the Unlimited; then replace it with the word Life. Then you can says, Life calls you, or you have found Life, or Life guides you and provides for you. What a lot fewer arguments we might have!
Thank you to Vinotinto for raisng this question in other threads - I felt you still hadn't had an answer.
If anyone wants to add further useful information, please feel free.
Charles
Whether you are non-religious or religious, you are going to encounter some movement along the path to self-discovery and personal growth. This often involves meeting difficulties inside yourself, like resistance, fears, grief, grievances and old emotions, that you struggle to overcome. It's a learning experience. We all carry heavy emotional backpacks that we need to unload. Then we grow and find it easier to tune into a broader and deeper consciousness of the beauty around us, the peace within, the interconnectedness of everything and everyone, a benevolent force that seems to guides us, and so on.
John Brierley's Camino Guides provide examples of the interior journey as well as the exterior. His bibliography gives you plenty of books to explore further if you wish. There has been an explosion of spiritual literature unattached to traditional religion in recent years, some of it of very high quality. The non-religious and religious alike can use it to extend their perception and experience of the world.
For those who want to steer clear of the word God, Eckhart Tolle's series of books, The Power of Now, Practising the Power of Now, and A New Earth, together offer you a clear and straightforward inner camino toward fuller consciousness.
For those who prefer a scientific approach, studying the film What the Bleep Do We Know is a good start. The Field by Lynne McTaggart can give you something weightier to get your teeth in to.
For those who would like to engage with a wise, informative, non-judgmental and humorous God, The Conversations With God series of 8 or 9 books offers another camino, that you can dip into or walk all the way.
For those who are serious about taking the road, the self-study programmes given to us in recent times by 'J', as he is referred to in The Disappearance of the Universe, provide a powerful route to taking control of your mind and opening up your heart. Focus on working through the first hundred lessons in the workbook in A Course in Miracles and then you'll probably be ready to move on to the advanced course delivered more recently, The Art of Spiritual Peacemaking.
I'm offering these as an alternative to a choice between religion and atheism with nothing in between. In fact we might do well, as suggested in Tomorrow's God, to abandon the word God altogether, to overcome the limiting beliefs attached to it as a term for the Unlimited; then replace it with the word Life. Then you can says, Life calls you, or you have found Life, or Life guides you and provides for you. What a lot fewer arguments we might have!
Thank you to Vinotinto for raisng this question in other threads - I felt you still hadn't had an answer.
If anyone wants to add further useful information, please feel free.
Charles
My views have changed as I have realised that in life we have to find our own road - Christmas in Church is a bit like the Camino - it is the time of the year when the faithful who sit in the seats all year are joined by the curious, the nostalgic, the carol singing agnostics. I have Jewish and Muslim friends who learned Christmas Carols at school and even although they don't believe a word of the story love the fellowship of Christmas - like the roads to Santiago, there is room for everyone.
ilgrim
