The Spirit of the Pilgrim: The deepest footprint of the Camino de Santiago

El Espíritu del Peregrino: La huella más profunda del Camino de Santiago

? What do we mean when we speak of the "spirit of the pilgrim"?

If you are minimally familiar with the Camino de Santiago, you have heard the "pilgrim spirit", a common term among walkers. This term is only what we call the process of transformation that pilgrims experience since we started planning the backpack for the Camino de Santiago until weeks after returning home. The spirit of the pilgrim is to take conscience of ourselves and our surroundings as we go along the Camino de Santiago little by little.

We all face the challenge of the Camino de Santiago from different points of view and we go through it with different motivations; some walk for spiritual reasons (whether religious or not), others for the adventure or tourism component, other pilgrims to nip in the bud with the daily routine or even looking for a before and after that helps to pass a bad Vital experience. However all the pilgrims are in common ground while we walk, when we divest ourselves of the dispensable, we begin to merge with what surrounds us on the Way of St. James and time passes to have a totally different dimension.

? What is the spirit of the pilgrim?

The spirit of the pilgrim consists in deepening our inner search while we walk, learning to value the little things that surround us and to live in harmony with the rest of the pilgrims, lending our help, understanding and generosity whenever it is needed. The Jacobean spirit is born in the heart of the pilgrim from the moment he leaves aside the unnecessary when he fills his backpack, understanding that to walk to Santiago the most important thing we have to carry inside and not loaded behind his back. The Jacobean spirit is also noticeable when it leaves us that recognizable emptiness inside when arriving at home and returning to routine, although with our vital perspective changed forever.

El Espíritu del Peregrino: La huella más profunda del Camino de Santiago

? Twinning with the rest of the pilgrims

The Jacobean spirit has much to do with the feeling of brotherhood that is born among the pilgrims; the ease with which we open ourselves to others while we walk, the generosity that leads us to share our water and food and, above all, to be always ready to help. You can not understand the brotherhood among pilgrims without the will to always give help to those who need it and to thank with the soul, without demanding, those people who make the Way continue to function, like the voluntary hospitaleros.

? Take advantage of the course of the Way to reflect

When it is said that the Camino de Santiago can change your life, what is meant is that the Jacobean route gives you the tools so that you can pull down the wall that holds you back. In the spirit of the pilgrim is also knowing how to take advantage of the spiritual power of the Way to reflect on who we are, to learn to know ourselves better or to value and respect more those around us. While we walk the Camino de Santiago, isolated from everything, without distractions and disconnected from the material side of life, we introduce ourselves without knowing it into a perfect breeding ground to begin to see clearly and learn to separate the grain from the wheat.

? Enjoy all the details, without hurry

The spirit of the pilgrim is also to learn to let go and enjoy little by little what surrounds us, without hurry to reach the goal. Feeling pilgrim is learning to appreciate the small details that flood the Camino de Santiago, the natural landscapes, the long walks under the sun, the conversations, the veteran battles ... and for this it is essential to take it very calmly and understand that the goal is only the end, but the "during" is the most important.