à la carte spirit by ilona fried
Ritual
Backpack On, Backpack Off
Boots on. Boots off. Lights on. Lights off. I have been on the Camino for just a week yet it feels much longer, perhaps because in some ways, each full day is the same. At the hostels, the lights go on at 6:30-7:00am, we repack our rucksacks, put our boots and packs back on and … Continue reading
Cutting (out) the Cheese
I’m not the only one who over packed for the Camino; most of the others are also Americans who, determined to resolve every possible problem on their own, schlepped a lot of stuff. One older fellow I walked with for a few kilometers confessed to pitching three guidebooks and a bag of food into the forest … Continue reading
Notes from a Liminal Space
Even though my body is still in Denver, I feel like I’m in a netherworld, between what was and what will be when I return from the Camino. It’s a wide openness I once feared but am now learning to inhabit. Suspending an identity is equally freeing and disconcerting. Yom Kippur, which ended tonight, amplified … Continue reading
Of Kugel and Catholicism
On Rosh Hashanah I attended an intimate, lay-led Kabbalistic service at a private home in Denver. I hadn’t expected food, but the hosts graciously supplied several bagel varieties, four different cream cheeses, coffee and juice. People were milling around when I arrived so I decided to have a bite. I placed half a sesame seed … Continue reading
Inspired or Insane?
Since “(in)sanity” is on the à la carte menu, it’s time to dish out a serving. Last month I attended the Wake Up Festival, a nourishing buffet of poets, gurus, meditation instructors, scientists, musicians, writers and yogis who shared their experiences on the process of enlightenment and practices to stave off “endarkenment”. David Whyte read … Continue reading
à la carte spirit by ilona fried 
Recent comments