MKE Round 3 – Pilgrimage and Symbols

This week in the Master Key Experience Mark (and Haanel) talk about symbols, principles and intuition.  This also relates to the pilgrimage of the Camino de Santiago.

When you are walking on the Camino, all symbols are stripped away.  You are not a nurse or a teacher or a retired plumber.  You are just a pilgrim.  When talking with other pilgrims you are more likely to hear about their blisters or their innermost dreams than what they do in ‘real life.’

The student who masters the contents of Part Seventeen does not mistake the symbols for the reality; he is interested in causes, rather than effects.  He concentrates on the realities of life, and then is not disappointed in the results.  Charles Haanel, Master Key, Part Seventeen, Introduction

On the Camino, everyone carries all their possessions on their back, most only have a second change of clothing and a few personal items.  You don’t compare yourself to other pilgrims in ways that would make you feel superior to them; you might compare how far you are walking today, or where you slept last night.

Life is very simple on the Camino.  And as you walk, your mind is allowed to think.  There is a relaxation of the mind, and you can listen to your heart and soul.  Intuition gains that royal welcome.  Perhaps that’s why so much synchronicity, or magic, occurs on the Way of St James.  I love what Haanel has to say about intuition:

Intuition arrives at conclusions without the aid of experience or memory.  Intuition often solves problems that are beyond the grasp of the reasoning power.  Intuition often comes with a suddenness that is startling; it reveals the truth for which we are searching, so directly that it seems to come from a higher power.  Intuition can be cultivated and developed; in order to do so it must be recognized and appreciated.  If the intuitive visitor is given a royal welcome when he comes, he will come again; the more cordial the welcome the more frequent his visits become…

Intuition usually comes in the Silence; great minds seek solitude frequently; it is here that all the larger problems of life are worked out.  Charles Haanel, Master Key, 17:23-24

I heard a guest on a Camino podcast recently, talking about the First Nations people of the West Coast of Canada.  They say that one should never go faster than you can walk or paddle, because you lose contact with your soul.  I get that.  During my walk I took a bus two times, and each time it was very jarring to travel so fast after days and days of just walking.  Sure, we’re all used to it at home, but things are simpler on the Camino.  You align to the beat of your heart and the pace of your steps.

In lesson 17, when Haanel talks about symbols, he says:

You may be pursuing the symbols of power, instead of power itself.  You may be pursuing fame instead of honour, riches instead of wealth, position instead of servitude; in either event you will find that they turn to ashes just as you overtake them…

With an understanding of the true source of power, we can afford to ignore the symbols… Thought can be turned within where it takes hold of the basic principles of things, the heart of things, the spirit of things.  When you get to the heart of things it is comparatively easy to understand and command them.  Charles Haanel, Master Key, 17:28-31

And on the Camino, as you walk, you give yourself permission to be courageous, to be abundant, to be healthy – because that’s all there is.  The only symbols are the yellow arrows and the scallop shells.

Buen Camino