Wednesday, May 29, 2013

May 29, 2013

It starts when we are kids. Everything, and everyone, needs to have a label. Who's mom and who's dad? Who's grandma, grandpa, sister or brother? When we go to school it gets more complicated. Now your label defines who you are within an entire societal system. If you grow up living in the same area, the label you are given as a child in elementary school often defines who you are for the rest of your years in school. Then let's add in religion. Are you religious or not? Are you a Christian? If you're a Christian, are you Catholic or Protestant. If you're Protestant, what denomination? All of these labels seemingly serve to help the world makes sense, but in reality they limit our potential to grow and experience this human existence to that which is socially acceptable within the confines of our label.

By the time I was in high school, I had begun to rebel against the labels I had been given. I was smart, so I started skipping school. I was the good kid, so I started getting in trouble. I was a Christian, so I stopped going to church. It's only now, in retrospect, that I see what I was doing. I don't like to be labelled. It confines me rather than defines me. The world makes less sense to me when I am expected to live within a label. I don't understand why I can't pick and choose what I want out of this life from all of the possibilities that exist. I have redefined myself many times over my lifetime in order to escape the labels. Yet each time, in each new phase, the labels begin to creep in, unnoticed at first, until they've almost consumed me and convinced me of their imaginary importance.

It's happening again, here on the Camino. My new label is pilgrim, or peregrina. In each new town, most do not see my face. They don't know my name. The see the backpack, and the muddy shoes and the tired eyes and I become just another one of the multitude of pilgrims that will pass their way. Along with being a pilgrim, I have rules I'm supposed to follow. The tricky part is the rules are unwritten, and none of the pilgrims who have come before me can agree on what the rules really are anyway, so even if someone did try to write them down, there'd be so much disagreement over what was the right way to be a pilgrim and what was wrong way, that we'd all end up just as confused as we were without the rule book.

Let's face it. While we are all grateful for those yellow arrows that come in all forms, all shapes and all sizes, leading us to Santiago, there are no yellow arrows leading us to the right way to be a pilgrim. My way is different from anyone else's on this path. I don't want to be lumped in with everyone else as if we're all doing the same thing for the same reason. Let's get rid of the label and just be the individuals we are.

Hi. I am Callea. I'm walking the Camino de Santiago. I came to have a spiritual experience and to break through my limitations. To do something extraordinary. Nothing more. Nothing less.

3 comments:

  1. Interesting point ......
    With respect may I add what I experienced?

    The labels are applied to us regardless whether we want them or not sometimes the labels are positive ones but often negative ones and whether we fight it or not they are still applied.

    My short time as a pilgrim I noted, as a good friend often says, it wasn't about me, it was about something more. The label pilgrim gave others and locals a message which most people, nearly all I would note, a sign to show me.....
    Not for who I am but for what I am doing .....
    Respect
    Love
    Empathy
    Kindness

    The recognition of the pilgrim journey became respect for the choice I made to fulfill the pilgrimage.
    One day I found myself alone in a male filled bar on the outskirts of a town with a bikie standing right behind me however the barman and others knew I was a pilgrim ..... I felt completely safe in that environment knowing the respect for me as a pilgrim .... Respect for what I was completing.
    The respect for the action not me or who I am became into force ... So the label is applied to the action not the person ....
    The action is respected ..... The action is locally and nationally recognized as a holy pursuit and depending on the person who is applying the label and what their level of respect for the action will be applied to you or others who are completing the same journey.
    I would suggest that many pilgrims are doing what they are doing so that they can have the label and receive the respect, love and kindness that is freely given and shown to pilgrims.
    The action of doing a pilgrimage in Spain gives a rite of passage to receive respect for the action ....
    Mostly treated as like a human person on a spiritual journey .... Which comes from the label .... Which was applied to the action

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  2. I completely agree with everything you've said. And for those who are doing it so the can have the label applied, because it makes them happy or fulfilled, that is awesome. For me, no one else, I don't like labels of any kind. Positive or negative, they place a box around the limitless. If someone else places a label on me, whether I want it or not, that becomes their limitation, not mine. For me, and me alone, I prefer to avoid labels of any kind. I'm not perfect at it, but I'm getting better. And it helps that I recognize the signs of the limitations I feel much sooner these days, so I can make the adjustments needed in my life to bring me happiness. :)

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    Replies
    1. Callea
      So are you saying you are avoiding labels to just yourself or is it reciprocal? Avoiding labeling others?
      Unfortunately as I think we agree, labeling happens whether we like it not .... And often I happens without our knowledge.
      That same friend I quoted previously also says ..... What others think about me is none of my business .....
      Frustrating as labels are we have no control over those that are placed upon us ..... Our only influence is what we do with it .... As you say you choose not to let the label limit you .....
      Some labels I embrace and others I dislike and others I hate but with all the labels I choose not to let them define me .... Who I am or my potential and I don't let the labels stop me from doing anything.
      There is a fine line between labels and roles too. That would be another discussion.....
      Take care precious and keep safe

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