Becoming John Muir

“A Parable of Sauntering” excerpted from The Mountain Trail and its Message, by Albert W. Palmer

There are always some people in the mountains who are known as "hikers." They rush over the trail at high speed and take great delight in being the first to reach camp and in covering the greatest number of miles in the least possible time. they measure the trail in terms of speed and distance.

One day as I was resting in the shade Mr. Muir overtook me on the trail and began to chat in that friendly way in which he delights to talk with everyone he meets. I said to him: "Mr. Muir, someone told me you did not approve of the word 'hike.' Is that so?" His blue eyes flashed, and with his Scotch accent he replied: "I don't like either the word or the thing. People ought to saunter in the mountains - not hike!

"Do you know the origin of that word 'saunter?' It's a beautiful word. Away back in the Middle Ages people used to go on pilgrimages to the Holy Land, and when people in the villages through which they passed asked where they were going, they would reply, "A la sainte terre,' 'To the Holy Land.' And so they became known as sainte-terre-ers or saunterers. Now these mountains are our Holy Land, and we ought to saunter through them reverently, not 'hike' through them."

John Muir lived up to his doctrine. He was usually the last man to reach camp. He never hurried. He stopped to get acquainted with individual trees along the way. He would hail people passing by and make them get down on hands and knees if necessary to see the beauty of some little bed of almost microscopic flowers. Usually he appeared at camp with some new flowers in his hat and a little piece of fir bough in his buttonhole.

Now, whether the derivation of saunter Muir gave me is scientific or fanciful, is there not in it another parable? There are people who "hike" through life. They measure life in terms of money and amusement; they rush along the trail of life feverishly seeking to make a dollar or gratify an appetite. How much better to "saunter" along this trail of life, to measure it in terms of beauty and love and friendship! How much finer to take time to know and understand the men and women along the way, to stop a while and let the beauty of the sunset possess the soul, to listen to what the trees are saying and the songs of the birds, and to gather the fragrant little flowers that bloom all along the trail of life for those who have eyes to see!

You can't do these things if you rush through life in a big red automobile at high speed; you can't know these things if you "hike" along the trail in a speed competition. These are the peculiar rewards of the man who has learned the secret of the saunterer!

This passage was sent to me yesterday right as I finalized my preparations for a 10 day journey to Spain to walk the Camiño Inglés over my Easter Break.

A couple of years ago a strong urge surfaced to thru-hike something. It might have started by crossing paths with the abundance of hikers funneling through New England on the Appalachian Trail or just having read too many books romanticizing time on trails, but there was something quite appealing about the thought of taking a long, long time to get somewhere that you could drive in one sixteenth of the time.

I spend a lot of time thinking about destinations. The problem has generally been I don’t even know where that destination is- so I’m also consumed by trying to figure out where I’m going, let alone how to get there. From a meta perspective, such has been my life since finishing my studies at Wheaton. By the grace of God I’ve tended to know just enough to have secure short term destinations, but time flies quickly and I’m a fast-paced walker. I’m not quite sure why God seems to have blinded me from having any sort of clear perspective on the far-out, long term destinations. Maybe it’s because He knows I’ll spend more time dwelling on the desired outcome more the actual journey, or that I’ll try and rush the work that God the Omnipotent does in His own time. You can’t rush the Creator of Time, but I do try and nudge Him to speed up once in a while.

The Camiño De Santiago, The Way of St James, is a medieval pilgrimage route walked yearly by thousands to the shrine of the Apostle St. James in Santiago de Compostela. As a history teacher who just finished teaching about the problems with indulgences, I find it funny that I’m taking a pilgrimage that many Christians would walk as penance for their sins. When I moved back to this part of the world the thought of walking the Camiño was on a mental back-burner, nudged forward by a friend who decided to make the pilgrimage part of his personal sabbatical. I decided to follow the English Way that begins in Ferrol and stretches 115 kilometers south to Santiago de Compostela- doable in just under a week.

So far God’s opened every door for me to venture out to Spain and I’m curious to see what He wants to show me. I’m stepping forward with ears peeled and eyes opened, and ask that you’d also be in prayer this week- both for my physical protection but also for spiritual perceptivity. My goal is to take my time. I’m in no rush to get to my destination- actually, I don’t think I could even walk 115km quickly if I tried.

On another note-

This week I’ve been listening to St. Matthew Passion by J.S. Bach pretty much on repeat. It sets the 26th and 27th chapters of the gospel of Matthew to orchestral music, chorales, arias… the whole shebang. For some reason I’ve just been struck by its melodic/harmonic beauty, Bach’s attention to detail and just the weight he gives the story leading up to Christ’s crucifixion. It’s worship at its peak. St. Matthew Passion was first performed on a Good Friday and continues to be performed every Holy Week. Something I found really striking about the piece is that whenever the voice of Jesus appears it’s always accompanied by a musical ‘halo’ of strings EXCEPT for Jesus’ final line sung from the Cross, “Eloi, Eloi, Lama Sabachthani”. I fell in love with the piece two times over when I learned that.

Peace to you all this Maundy Thursday.

Aaron

The washing of the feet and the sacrament of the Eucharist: two expressions of one and the same mystery of love entrusted to the disciples, so that, Jesus says, 'as I have done... so also must you do' (John 13:15) -Pope John Paul II