Spiritual beings are relational

Today was supposed to be a half rest day. We decided that instead of taking one full day off completely, we would do 2 shorter walking days and have 2 half rest days. Although I will say over 6 miles of walking does not feel much shorter to me!

As I was thinking about what to write today I realized my mind had not been completely on the path today. What was my mind occupied by?

It was occupied a lot of the time with worrying about our fellow pilgrims Karen and Robin. Very early into our walk today they chose a different way to get onto the route we were following. A perfectly reasonable thing to do. The expectation was that they would soon catch up with us. So Kate and I carried on, walking super slowly, turning around often, anticipating seeing Karen and Robin appear behind us.

But they never did! (All is well, they arrived safely back to our hotel).

So as I sit down to write about today’s walk, and consider my ongoing ponderings about spiritual vs. human experience, I realized that the reason I don’t have much to say about the walk is that my attention was very much focused on concern about Karen and Robin.

It was the relational component of this pilgrimage that mattered most today. Where were my fellow pilgrims and were they OK?

Kate and I had a lovely walk today (notwithstanding two detours and a scary bridge crossing). And much of my attention was on gratitude for the beauty of the surroundings we experienced - it felt a lot like forest bathing 🌳🌲🛁🛀.

And yet, constant in my mind, thoughts and prayers were our fellow pilgrims and friends.

Spiritual beings are relational beings.

So maybe I have begun to answer my question from yesterday… a part of what it means to be a spiritual being is to be in relationship with and to care for others.

I know there’s more to it than that, but for today, this feels like enough.