Reading Together Since 1999
Walk in a Relaxed Manner
Review by Austin Repath on 2005-10-21
Book Review of "Walk In A Relaxed Manner" by Joyce Rupp
reviewed by Austin Repath
Having more than once walked the Camino De Santiago pilgrim's route in
Spain, I approached "Walk In A Relaxed Manner", Rupp's account of her
Camino, with a critical eye. However, after reading the first few
chapters, I could barely contain my enthusiasm for her book. In fact I
could barely stop myself from leaping out of my chair and taking the next
flight back to Spain.
Her book captures the essence of the walk like no other book I have read.
She does so not in the expected fashion of a chronological telling of her
walk, but by framing her journey within a series of thematic chapters that
offer the reader a direct way of relating her experience to their own.
In the chapter,'Live in the Now' she shares her preoccupation with getting
to the end of the day's walking, her worry about getting to Santiago in
her allotted time, her thinking ahead to getting a place to sleep at day's
end. This always looking ahead is the quintessential preoccupation of the
pilgrim, as it is for most of us as we travel through life. It is her
struggle to keep herself in the present, to be in the now that every
reader can identify with.
But most of all Rupp has an amazing ability to transform the mundane into
that something more, that one might call sacred. On the first day of her
pilgrimage she arrives with her fellow pilgrim, Tom Pfeffer,in the ancient
town of Roncesvalles. It is late in the evening and they just manage to
get a place in the pilgrim refugio before curfew. Dead tired, she crawls
up into her bunk bed in the crowded dormitory. There she is kept awake by
that bane of every Pilgrim, the Snorer, and his fellow travelers:
"coughers, puffers, wheezers." This chapter, 'Hum Of Humanity', takes the
reader through her process of annoyance, irritation, ear plugs, 'unkind
thoughts' until by the end of the pilgrimage, she has come to see this
noisy cacophony as simply the hum of humanity. No small miracle! This
gift the author brings to the telling of her walk reminds us all that the
irritations along our way can also be transformed.
Finally there is that subtle quality of good writing called transparency.
A long forgotten English teacher of mine told our class that a book should
do two things. One is to act like a mirror and reflect the world around
us. The other is to act like as a window that opens into the world of the
author and should the author turn on the inner light you will be
privileged to see the soul of the writer.
This book does just that We see reflected in Rupp's writing the highs and
lows of the pilgrim's way. We experience with her, her disgust, the
irritations, her delight in the world , her love for others, her wonderful
willingness to enter into the daily experience of the way. And most
important of all her struggle to walk the pilgrimage in a consciousness
manner.
And when she turns on the light within, we are given the privilege to see
a soul, luminous and courageously walking forward to-wards the Sacred City
To be privy to such a journey with someone like Joyce Rupp is a very
special gift.
reviewed by Austin Repath, pilgrim, writer
http://www.austinrepath.com
email: thepilgrim@look.ca
For more on Joyce Rupp go to www.joycerupp.com
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