January 30, 2004

Escape from Monotony

The next step is the most important. To walk the road you have to see the horizon clearly and find the strength to take this step and then another.


In daily life we are in danger of falling into the mindset that “every day is the same” and of thinking that “nothing matters.” On the Camino de Santiago we become aware that our effort is rewarded because the distances are shortened. On of the strongest signs of the confusion that we have in life is monotony, the feeling that our routine, others, or the system have taken control of our path and they are making the rules as to what we should think, do, or feel. This monotony can set in when, after doing the same thing over and over, we forget the reasons why we are doing them. Monotony is also the result of abandoning our striving when we have concluded that we cannot move forwards, that we are in the same place we started, and that it is not worth continuing to struggle. Remember what is so often sung on the Camino, “Walker, there is no road, the road is made as you walk” as Machado said. The next step is the most important one. To walk the road you have to see the horizon clearly and find the strength to take this step and then another. We cannot forget any of our effort.

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