Boundaries

CAMINO STAGE 8: Pobena to Castro Urdiales Camino Del Norte Route – El Camino De Santiago 12 miles – 30 days left

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“Our human nature, our human spirit, wants no boundaries” Leslie Marmon

A week before my daughter’s wedding, she and I visited Washington D.C.’s National Gallery of Art to admire Spanish painter, Bartolomé Murillo’s Two Women at a Window. The lovely girl in the painting was right at the edge of the canvas as if able to permeate it. Murillo was fascinated by boundaries —the secular and the sacred, and the viewer and the painting. He liked the subjects to encroach right up to the viewer’s space. As I admired the painting, I was aware that my daughter, right next to me, would be crossing through the canvas and boundaries of her old life at home and stepping into her own new world, and the awareness left a pang in my heart. But I also felt happiness for her progressing through the stages of her life.

“Compassion knows no boundaries but comes with awareness.” Amit Ray

This morning, while preparing breakfast in the common space of our Camino room rental, one of the other pilgrims left her bedroom with her pack already on her back and headed to the exit. I said “Good Morning,” and she paused. I was suddenly aware she was hungry, and I asked her if she wanted breakfast. She smiled and undid her pack and joined us. She introduced herself as Donna from Essex and explained that she hadn’t had any dinner the night before as she couldn’t find anything open in the small town. (We had packed in groceries from another town for just that very reason.) As we ate, Donna shared that her friends had let her down and backed out of walking the Camino with her, but the journey by herself forced her to cross the boundaries of what she thought she was capable of and allowed her to step across barriers and make friends with pilgrims from various nationalities. Her experience was richer for it. Seeing her depart alone, I felt a pang but admired her courage to stretch her personal comfort zone, push back at limiting boundaries on her road to self awareness and growth.

“Mountains & rivers know the secret… they pay no attention to boundaries.” Brian Andreas

Shouldering our packs, we looked forward to climbing the coastal mountains above Pobena. Soon were at the boundary between the Basque Lands and Cantabria. We had no idea when we crossed over as it possessed the same beauty. Like students of the painter Murillo, we were right up against the cliff drop off and had to be careful as a lot of the protective fence was missing. Steve’s poor feet were still blistered and painful. Watching him walk caused another pang to my heart. But he continued to push through the limits of his own physical boundaries and carried on.

“There should be no boundaries to human endeavor. However bad life may seem, there is always something you can do, and succeed at. While there’s life, there is hope.” Stephen Hawking

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“Never assume you can’t do something. Push yourself to redefine the boundaries.” Brian Chesky

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New strength and understanding coursed through us today. Weariness is not gone, but it’s a teaching tool, and we have befriended it. There’s so much beauty and our spirits press to the edges to contain it all. Boundaries were meant to be enlarged as we redefine ours, we push onward with hope.