I had some trouble with my boot- I changed my insoles and had to cut them to make them fit better, but one of them just wouldn't cooperate, so I had to go get another pair, and then wear them around all day and see how they'd fit. Turns out, they fit really well. I'm also going to take my old insoles along with me just in case I need them. They have some indentations in them - supposedly to help massage the feet, but over a long period, they actually are not too comfortable. I've already worn those insoles for some pretty long practice walks- 12-15 miles each, and they're okay, but not like what I need. So, they'll do as secondary supports but not as the primary ones.
See, here's the thing - this "journey" started long before we arrived here. I'm more and more aware how this is really more than some physically grueling activity. It's more like a physical and spiritual exercise. Like a labyrinth, the course we'll be going on ends where it starts. And like a labyrinth, it can move us into a place of spirit as well as body, a place where your awareness moves to things deeper than just your physical needs and life. Now the Labyrinth analogy begins to break-down after that, but the point is still that if we let it, this can be a tool for deepening the faith journey.
We've been asking each other, why we're doing this- what made us WANT to do this. The theme of the knight going off to fight the dragon came up prior to our departure, and it seemed to resonate with some in our group. Why would the knight go and fight the dragon? Well, in Jungian psychology, this is more an archetype... meaning it speaks to the human condition more than a specific individuals case. The knight is the person on a quest, or facing a challenge, the one that protects others -or as the quote goes (attributed to George Orwell) "people sleep peaceably in their beds at night because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf". The knight stands watch over the people they are duty bound to protect, (or so the archetype goes... even though history is more filled with knights as brigands with a badge, hooligans abusing their people more than protecting them- but lets continue with the archetype) to face and confront fears on their behalf. THIS is why it is an archetype. We are all called to be knights at some point in our lives maybe. Knights are prepared... ready... they have done the hard work of life, and are able to confront not only physical challenges, but psychological ones, even spiritual ones... precisely because they have faced their own dragons- their dark sides, their not so noble nature.
We've prayed about this, we've even talked about the dreams we may have had even up to last night. I think we'll feel lot's of emotions as we walk - what an understatement! I packed my ruck today, heaved it on my back for a test run, and... well, let's just say this IS going to be a challenge! But I am ready! Ready, I tell you!
Actually I do feel more and more there will be something more to this than just the hard walk! Again back to the labyrinth - we'll walk a path of self-discovery, around the desert wilderness, confronting a very inhospitable landscape, confronting perhaps things about ourselves, we'll need to rely on each other, and on the mercy and generosity city of strangers... and we'll need to be generous as well, and then returning to the place we started- hours later returning to the place where the journey began, only coming back changed- tested, challenged, perhaps having confronted a dragon or two.
Well, I need to get to bed- wake-up is in 6 and 1/2 hours! Who needs sleep when you're getting ready to fight dragons!
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