There is something crazy in walking for 800 kms just to hug the statue of a saint. Yes, there are wonderful landscapes, interesting people and some of the finest traditional Spanish food, but nothing can really explain the trigger points that drive us here.
I already mentioned I did the first Camino because of a dream, and the second to regenerate myself after a wonderful but exhaustive year. However, I listened to many stories during my way. Someone did it for a vote or a promise, someone for some guilt to atone, someone to ask for blessings or a new beginning. Not to mention the paths related to sickness (both during the process and after the healing).
I could write about the meaning of forgiveness in relation to this path for pages, but the perspective I want to share with this post is different than the one of the Cruz de Hierro, and it is the following one.
If energy is not created but transformed, you need to dissolve it and let it evolve in a better stage. Like alchemy teaches us, one of the few laws of the process of refining ourselves is the solve et coagula (dissolve and coagulating). We need to dissolve feelings, pain and negative issues in order to improve ourselves, and we need to cementify the leftovers to solidify the positive feelings. Purifying ourselves is not only mastering the bronze. It is to work with it so it can become gold.
Rage is energy. Pain is energy. Frustration is energy. And all of them are closer to love than what we think.
This path is my way to make that process. There is no difference between working with metals and with myself. The final hug to the statue of St. James will be just final transformation of my energy.
Love will be my gold. And once arrived I know it will be worth it.
