On my birthday last October I blogged about Cheryl Strayed and the upcoming motion picture based on her autobiographical book, Wild. Twenty years ago when she was twenty-six Strayed was in personal turmoil. She had been grieving the death of her mother for a couple of years and during that time her marriage came apart and she engaged in one-night-stands and the use of heroin. Walking more than 1500 kilometres of the Pacific Crest Trail was ill-considered given her lack of hiking experience and traveling alone was dangerous. She carried a backpack nicknamed The Monster, which was as the name suggests was ridiculously heavy for a person her size.
In my 2014 blog entry I reflected on the enduring importance of pilgrimage and suggested that Strayed was a modern, post-religious version of the medieval pilgrim. Still, I had no intention of reading the book because it sounded as though it was going to be Eat, Pray, Hike, a bit too self-absorbed. Well, I borrowed it from the library because I wouldn't pay meney for it! I finished it recently and I have to concede that it is well-written, a page-turner, and surprisingly meaningful.
And it is a pilgrimage book. Strayed ends up jettisoning a lot of what she assumed she couldn't journey without, she is blessed by the generous people she meets along the way, and she talks and walks herself beyond fear. She even engages in some medieval self-flagellation. Her hiking boots don't fit and by the end of the journey the trail has won, taking six of her ten toenails. The rest of her body is rubbed and scraped and bruised.
Well into her journey she comes to a community where she meets a Swiss woman named Susanna. who says "We call what you're doing the pilgrim way. If you'd like, I would rub your feet." While Strayed demurs the woman is persistent and using peppermint oil massages her battered, filthy feet. How bibilical!
Walking the trail is more than a physical accomplishment for Cheryl Strayed. It is liberation and awakening and healing.
A couple of days ago I sat with my 32-year-old son Isaac who walked The Camino pilgrimage when he was nineteen. He commented that he figures that 800 kilometre walk taking about a month helped set the course of his life in terms of simplicity, establishing values, and trust in God.
I wonder, is it possible to be a pilgrim without risk? Does it require physical movement, or is it enough to be spiritually on the move? Are we part of pilgrim communities of faith, are we stay-at-home, safe Christians?
Comments?
My cousin is planning to walk the "Camino" this September. She is raising funds through churches for women of Kyrgyzstan. I am planning on reading the book "Wild". The West Coast Trail is a beautiful trail. Have done a few parts of it. My husband has done the whole trail a couple of times. It isn't that hard of a trail, so I am interested to see why she had problems.
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