Wednesday, July 30, 2008

There and Back Again

Well I am sure all of you were very worried about my pilgrimage into the city. Well I made it and after walking about 30-40 km in day (I had to get a ride back the next day, I was wrecked) I had an entirely new appreciation for those who could run that (although they were likely not carrying a 40lb backpack). The pain really all focused in the hips . . . who knew? Sleeping on the ground probably didn't help either. Anyway, here are some shots from along the way.
In the words of Whitesnake,
here I go again on my own
Goin down the only road Ive ever known,
Like a drifter I was born to walk alone
An I've made up my mind
I ain't wasting no more time
so here I go again . . .
Good grief my driveway was long enough. The one thing I must certainly learned from the last two days is that walking makes the world huge.

My backpack became heavy enough quickly enough so I decided to take the train tracks to save some time.

Stand By Me anyone? Probably wasn't a good a idea.

The cookie cutterization of Baden . . . it was such nice little town.

Well country mouse finally made it to the city and plopped himself down on the first bus stop bench to get downtown. What you didn't see in pictures was an over 5 hour walk that included a brief downpour where I huddled under my tiny $1.50 tarp. Also during which time my hips seized up like an old man.

Next stop was City Hall where I found out there was a free concert going on.

There where not any good acts playing so I decided to try and take a nap in Victoria Park.

After some wandering around and confirming my sleeping arrangements I made it back to the concert to watch Sloan.


I parked myself on the sidewalk where I looked over to see one of the best pieces of theological graffiti that I had seen in awhile. For some reason I like the phrase "All of God". There is a type of totalizing abandon in this phrase fitting of someone like God and well there are worse adjectives to use of God than 'insane'.

After the show I headed towards my 'camp site' which was a cemetery on a Mennonite church property on the edge of the downtown area. I debated internally on the ethics of sleeping in a graveyard but felt in the end that it should be on of the most welcoming of spaces and accessible to the weary traveler.

The first spot a lay down at looked good but when I got up to look around I was faced with this guy and he royally freaked me out.

So I moved over and lay next to a Gascho and certainly did not sleep like the dead that night. I tossed and turned and slept intermittently after which I got up at about 5:30 and hit the street again with my wobbly hips in search of breakfast and whatever was to come . . .

4 comments:

Nicola Masciandaro said...

IndieFaith,

Congratulations on what looks like a wonderful walk, experience. Having been away from your blog for a while it is nice to see this exciting trajectory from "Life is not for us" to this adventurous setting forth, with Fratello Metallo thrown in, a real joculator Dei and co-pilgrim.

Wrote a poem last night that relates to the life question. This, jogged by the all of god is insane grafitti, also comes to mind from the the Discourses:

"The whole of evolution, in fact, is an evolution from unconscious divinity to conscious divinity, in which God Himself, essentially eternal and unchangeable, assumes an infinite variety of forms, enjoys an infinite variety of experiences and transcends an infinite variety of self-imposed limitations. Evolution from the standpoint of the Creator is a divine sport, in which the Unconditioned tests the infinitude of His absolute knowledge, power and bliss in the midst of all conditions. But evolution from the standpoint of the creature, with his limited knowledge, limited power, limited capacity for enjoying bliss, is an epic of alternating rest and struggle, joy and sorrow, love and hate, until, in the perfected man, God balances the pairs of opposites and transcends duality. Then creature and Creator recognise themselves as one; changelessness is established in the midst of change, eternity is experienced in the midst of time. God knows Himself as God, unchangeable in essence, infinite in manifestation, ever experiencing the supreme bliss of Self-realisation in continually fresh awareness of Himself by Himself. This realisation must and does take place only in the midst of life, for it is only in the midst of life that limitation can be experienced and transcended, and that subsequent freedom from limitation can be enjoyed." (III.11-12, my italics)

Cheers,

Nicola

Joey said...

What an adventure! (I hope your aged hip returns to normal).

Good reconnecting with you in blog land. I'm doing well - currently living in Yellowknife but will be moving to London, Ontario in the next month.

Keep up the blogging - I'm a regular.

Unknown said...

Cool, that's less than an hour from where I'm at, we'll have to connect some time.

Joey said...

I'd love to.

I'll be taking an M.A. in Theology at Huron College/University of Western Ontario.
I see you're pastoring now. Last time we spoke you were starting a Ph.D. at McMaster. You'll have to fill in the gaps for me.

Maybe we should swap e-mail addresses and move this conversation out of your comment section!