13/38 Essence of Being
Pastel sketch
With a noisy road close by and views of Pamplona’s brown smog in the distance, I was tempted to hop on a bus, and make up for lost time. But El Camino changed direction, revealing a little church on a hill…an Axis Mundi (a channel or conduit between divine and mundane realms), reminding me that walking well requires not only connection with the earth but also with ‘the heavens’ above. With that awareness I improved my walking another notch. The sky changed forever.
Video still: Eunate church
A little further I missed a vital Camino sign and ended up on a main road where noisy cars left little space for lost pilgrims seeking solitude. Just as I contemplated abandoning El Camino again, using the ‘make-up-for-lost-time excuse’, it threw another surprise jewel. A sign alerted me to a little domed church away from the main road. As I got closer I saw pilgrims. Hah! No longer lost!
Video still: Eunate church
As I stepped through the door… I lost myself for a moment or more, as if ego had gone for a walk and let me just Be in this timeless sanctuary of medieval simplicity. The moments of pure Being were interrupted when a busload of tourists gathered just outside the doorway to hear their guide regurgitate facts about the church. They all nodded, confirming they 'got' all that. So in they quickly squeezed through the door, looked around confirming with their eyes, each other and their cameras what their ears had heard. This wise old church remained unmoved by this tourist tornado. It remained grounded like a rock, guarding the essence of the site. It took me a little longer before I found a moment of Being again. If only I could be like that little church.
Video still: Eunate church
The house next door offered seven mattresses on the floor for the night. I was the last one in. Welcomed with fresh lemonade and melon I was glad I chose to stay rather than walk the last few kilometres for the day. Our host Jean locked the church and cooked a feast. After sunset he invited us back into the church. With the light of only a few candles Jean illuminated an Essence so pure, it send shivers up my spine like Kundalini energy. He sang an angelic Ave Maria that echoed right to the core of my bones where it got stored, and later released with each step along El Camino.
