I’m travelling again today – back to Sydney.

The Hobart art gallery MONA is every bit as good as people say it is. I’ve been to art galleries all around the world – and MONA has to be up there with the best.

(pic below)

So over to Sister Clare – always wise, thought provoking, and irreverent at times too!

Thanks Sister…

Firstly, thank you to you all for wishing me a happy birthday.

It was incredibly thoughtful, and halfway around the world I felt your kindness and love. So again, my thanks.

A strange thing happened when I woke on the morning I turned sixty. For a moment, just at that transition stage between sleep and wakefulness, I was in the hospital room where I was born, in Wimbledon London.

I looked on at my mother and father – they were so young – and they were so full of love for the baby they'd brought into the world.

It was a very strange sensation, being a witness to this, my birth. Seeing the impact it had on my parents.

And it occurred to me that I should in future turn birthdays around so that it's not a celebration of me, but a celebration of my mother and father – for all that they did to nurture me through childhood and adolescence – for all the sacrifices they made to enable me to be what I am today.

I don't think I'll look at birthdays the same way from now on, after that strange vision just at that moment before the world clutched me from sleep.

Firstly, thank you to you all for wishing me a happy birthday.

It was incredibly thoughtful, and halfway around the world I felt your kindness and love. So again, my thanks.

A strange thing happened when I woke on the morning I turned sixty. For a moment, just at that transition stage between sleep and wakefulness, I was in the hospital room where I was born, in Wimbledon London.

I looked on at my mother and father – they were so young – and they were so full of love for the baby they'd brought into the world.

It was a very strange sensation, being a witness to this, my birth. Seeing the impact it had on my parents.

And it occurred to me that I should in future turn birthdays around so that it's not a celebration of me, but a celebration of my mother and father – for all that they did to nurture me through childhood and adolescence – for all the sacrifices they made to enable me to be what I am today.

I don't think I'll look at birthdays the same way from now on, after that strange vision just at that moment before the world clutched me from sleep.

I have now created a special forum for the proposed Camino Tour.

Here is the link:

http://pgsthewayforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=89

Please indicate your interest on the topic thread there – and please post any questions or info you might have. Putting it on the forum keeps it separate from the blog and compartmentalised, so it will be easy to access information.

The more I think about the tour, the more I think it’s something I might do. Jennifer would attend too, as would Sister Clare. And it would be from Porto to Santiago.

I think it would be enormous fun!

Bill

This is what Jennifer bought me for my 60th birthday.

Hand crafted by wonderful Sydney jeweller John Tarasin.

The scallop shell design is based on the large shell on the side of the Santiago Cathedral. I gave John the shot below and he worked off that.

If you want John to make a piece of Camino jewellery for you, I can put you in touch. He's been a friend for many many years, and is an extraordinary craftsman and artist.

The ring is so special. I just love it. It won't leave my finger now, ever.

Thank you, beautiful Jennifer.

I listen carefully to words.  The words people use, and the words I find myself using, are endlessly fascinating to me.

Here is an example – yesterday I overheard Bill, effusive in his appreciation of help from a  work collegue  say: “I am eternally grateful to you.”

It struck me as an odd thing for him to say for two reasons –

1. Pre-camino Bill would never have used the word “eternal” or “grateful” and –
2. The expression “eternally grateful” itself.

How does such an expression exist in our thought processes? We, as a group of human beings believe ourselves to be finite – we are born and then we die. It’s a consensus belief, one we all agree with.  In fact we often say that death is the one thing we can be sure of.

And yet we carry this expression eternally grateful in our thought and language. But in this expression we acknowledge the opposite. We acknowledge our ability to be grateful to another person for all eternity. We say I am eternal and you are eternal.

How is it possible for us to carry an expression like this within our group thought structure?  It goes against all society’s accepted ideas of our finiteness. It denies “death” as a possibility. And yet it exists within our language.

Could it be that when we say “I am eternally grateful,” we are remembering who we truly are?

Eternal beings…?

So the feedback you gave me was very encouraging, thank you!

Enough for me to now start giving this some serious consideration.

What I'm thinking is this –

• The Camino Portuguese, starting in Porto.
• Approx 250kms in 2-3 wks. (Would need to lock down a schedule)
• No more than 20kms a day most days.
• Group to be approx 15 people.
• Camino Portuguese is relatively flat and a very beautiful walk.
• http://www.caminoways.com/destinations/camino-de-santiago/portuguese-way—rural-portugal-unspoilt-scenaries.html
• April 2014
• Schedule permitting, Sister Clare would be involved, doing Centering Prayer sessions daily for anyone who wanted to attend.
• I would do daily photographic tutorials, and be available during the walk each day for photographic advice.
• My wife Jennifer would be there as well. She is a “sensitive,” and would be on hand to discuss PGS etc, as would I.
• We would have a mini-bus to drive people to the next stop if they wished.
• Tour costs, yet to be determined, could be structured on a land only basis, or could include international flights and all up cost.
• The tour would go through a registered and experienced travel agent who has done many of these kind of spiritual tours in the past.
• If possible, I would like to try and structure the tour to include a visit to the Bom de Jesus church and grounds in Braga. ( although it's off the traditional Camino route)
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bom_Jesus_do_Monte
• Accommodation would be private albergue standard.
• Ending of course in Santiago, so you could get your Compostela.

Please let me know your thoughts on all this, in particular doing the Camino Portuguese.

This is a gift my wife Jennifer gave me, some time ago.

It's a mantra, and it's very simple,

But incredibly powerful.

It's for when you've had a bad or uncomfortable experience. For when you've had a disagreement or fight with someone. For when you're feeling angry. Or simply for when you need a pick-me-up.

It can be used when you're feeling low. When you have doubts.

It can be directed outwards, or inwards.

When things were tough for me on the Camino, I would say it over and over, and it would make me feel better.

See if it works for you…

I'm sorry,

I love you,

Please forgive me,

Thank you.

I got an intriguing email today.

It was from my travel agent, a bloke I've knowing for many many years. He organised my flights etc for my Camino in April.

He contacted me and asked whether I'd be interested in hosting a Camino tour. He organises a lot of spiritual tours to Brazil, for John of God followers, but said there would probably be interest in my taking a tour group on the Camino – for maybe two weeks or so… not necessarily the whole pilgrimage.

I'd not given any thought to this kind of thing – but as you all know, I have from the outset approached the Camino using my PGS to guide me.

I'd not intended for this blog to be of interest to anyone other than family and friends, I'd not intended to keep it going, or to start a forum, and I'd not intended to write a book. I've just been guided by my PGS with all these choices I've made.

And so when this email landed in my Inbox today, I just followed my PGS and it said I should take it further.

So, I thought I'd seek your feedback –

Would any of you be interested in coming on a tour that I would lead? I would make it a PGS The Way tour, and so we'd all be using our intuition on the tour, and I'd teach you how to do that.

I'd also teach you how to use a camera too!

It would all come down to cost, of course, and I'd need to figure that side of things out – but in the first instance, can you let me know if it's of interest?

I'd be thinking mid to late April next year, and a small group of between 10-15 people. No more than that.

The way I see this, the Camino – and my PGS – has just put this in front of me as a possibility. Let me know if you think it's a good idea.

Bill