I no longer need to believe

[Music] day four Sunday morning it feels earlier than it is it's actually only 8:00 but it's a very sleepy Village on a Sunday morning I've just stayed here very simple inexpensive one night and a pilgrims meal and uh on arrival yesterday I I was seduced by a free beer to suzanna's Bar a German guy who's married a Spanish woman and is uh made his home and living here apparent I've learned apparent me I'm whispering because it's Sunday [Music] morning apparently the pilgrim season proper doesn't start for two weeks in the Samana Santa Holy Week um so there are actually very few pilgrims around it turns out let's just listen to the birds a moment it's not early for them is it let's get going this way I think catch you later [Music] this is a little village the first of the morning this Sunday morning called el gorsa and there are many abandoned buildings in here you could do up if you were so inclined it might end up looking like that but corrugated roof in that case Old Stone it's lovely Old Stone and uh no roofs on these Earth and stone Cottages they look more like uh agricultural out buildings don't they rather than I don't think they were ever dwellings were they I don't know why they haven't repurposed the stone though because here's a very good example of I guess they have repurposed the stone for that isn't that lovely it's one of the aspects oh and look at this Arch over this doorway and the doorway itself isn't that Splendid and um it's triggered something uh a recollection from previous Caminos um one of the highlights is indeed walking through these lovely honeystone Villages and of course you think oh I could live here let's see if there's any coffee I won't show you every meal but this is Sunday desuno breakfast with local freshly squeezed oranges squeezed by a local uh local hamon on Tada and a nice fresh coffee happy Sunday and there we have it the local church with the tower which is mostly for show and in the Mist the Heron's Nest precariously stuck to the side of the Apex oh dear some of us live our lives like that this this way aha two crosses a Red Cross which looks a bit like a dagger and a wooden cross this uh Sunday morning uh the normal Camino yellow shell and yellow arrow so we know we're on the right path for the Camino Franz as this route is called so what's the confusion what's this uh Red Cross it's not an amb amulance station it also happens to be if I am correct uh the another route called it's not the sanjac route which is sort of Spanish for St James I believe this might be wrong um but it's also um this part of it anyway is the route San George St George I think that's right let's see if this information board tells us anything more that's a lovely explanatory sign in Spanish well I have to say R La Fu brazuelo um we're here in alansa which is a lovely little village and it's just 2 kilm or an hour to uh Castro don't know what the brazuelo is off we go this way hopefully after another hour or so we'll find another coffee stop there's the uh the wooden cross the it's actually metal not wood I think the yellow stripe the yellow arrow and a very Germanic looking Red Cross there I expect Baron von Roven to appear out of the sky as any moment oh that's that's thoughtful dance classes for deer 4 kilom ahead that's good to keep them active belief doesn't make you free have faith does you let it space to act some through or somebody believe doesn't make you free but Faith does what's the difference between belief and Faith well this is very simplistic so don't put any weight to my words whatsoever this is my off the cuff point I have come to temporarily belief is your response to what somebody else tells you if you if you if you know something you don't have to believe it do you cuz you know it but if somebody tells you something for example um when we are all tainted with original sin um then um unless it's something you know for yourself um it seems to me that's a belief you're taking on board something that somebody else has told you well as an apprentice Mystic this don't wash for me anymore um and nodding to Dogma um I'm not going to um throw stones at anybody's uh beliefs for myself which is the Mystic path of the experiential understanding I I say I no longer need to believe I suppose the uh the the alternative is Faith and somewhere in the Bible in the in the New Testament I think it's one of Paul's letters he very nicely defines Faith as the certainty of of those things we can't see well we can't see the mobile phone electromagnetic waves we can't see uh many things that we take for granted in modern life partic particularly technology but also things from the past you and I unless you are um a an archaeologist or possibly an anthropologist um you do not know firsthand for yourself from the fossil record for example or the study of early homat um the the uh the efficacy of Darwin's Grand theory of evolution through natural selection now don't get me wrong I do believe in that I have not um got an alternative and I've got no intention of polishing my silver rock hammer and going on uh the Jurassic Coast to do my own fossil research no I do believe what other people have discovered in in those Realms but in the realm of spirit it goes without saying really that I can't uh I can't communicate I can't intravenously or intur Lally convey my not my belief my experience of the numus to you and uh I am no Buddhist but I think uh correct me if I'm wrong Neil in the Buddhist tradition it's not a question of believing in the Buddha it's a question of experiencing the your own Buddha nature uh yourself so the parallel for me I suppose in my Christian faith is um I no longer feel it necessary to believe in Jesus as I was as it was passed on to me and I accept it no no no issues no problems no uh reviewing of that but it's uh it's definitely evolved from a belief in but a knowing of an experiencing of what Jesus encouraged us to think of as the kingdom of God which I take to be here and now not somewhere else um uh experiencing what it is to participate in I am which is nothing other than the the name of God both in the Old Testament and actually in the New Testament and so this morning's meditation which I shared with you which ends with the verse from I think it's Psalms be still and know that I am God it's that I amness of God which I I don't need to say I believe is what Jesus was talking about out in some other way sounds a little bit precocious so take take the notice of this I don't need to believe I know um um something of the I amness of God or I'm barking completely completely up the wrong Camino comments below it doesn't say be still and believe believe that I am God that's that's the first car on the road this Sunday morning in an hour and a [Laughter] half note it does not say be still and believe that I am God rather be still and know that I am God so the knowing of the I am is not a belief it's a knowing come on come on go with me I've just read a verse from uh the New Testament St Paul I think um scrolled or rather graffitied onto a distance post just back there which has got me thinking it says um for those who endure until the end they will be saved well I've got news for you it's a mistranslation it is you won't hear that in my church where life is suffering I'm sorry uh no what's that saying uh that which doesn't kill you strengthens you um no no we're not going for that one either um it's as though people have got uh paranoia as though life is out to get you so you have to endure it um I suffer from pronoia which is a condition where I I expect everything to be a blessing to work out just fine maybe it's just me so the correct translation of he who endures um should actually be he he who enjoys to the end shall be saved you heard it here first I've stopped for a little water break on this Sunday morning the fourth day and here's uh one of the regular signs and that's where it's pointing to but on this one sign there are several things that we can think about talk about on the way first of all you'll have heard probably everybody greet each other fellow pilgrims and locals they say one Camino good Camino and that's a lovely thing we we're all citizens of the same place the we're citizens of the Camino and so uh we all Belong Together whatever the language um lore non C Nas c r I don't even know what language that is I don't think it's Spanish I think that's Italian so I'll say it again L non and that means um love is not something that you know with your head it's something revealed to the heart so there is Sunday morning lesson number one what's this one tw elel oh this is French from uh hamita or Marite um September 22 you and the sky well John likes to say where does one end and the other begin I'm not sure John knows really exactly how big the sky is I don't I I certainly don't know how big the sky the cosmos is and the ontological question which has come up in my book uh of course where does Consciousness begin and end and is the cosmos that we are familiar with the only Cosmos or um and is that the only thing that contains Consciousness or is the whole Cosmos which might be infinite we don't know yet uh is that contained itself within Consciousness I'll leave that one with you and finally with an exclamation mark destr to ego which I think my Spanish serves me must mean destroy your ego no how don't be so violent what's wrong with your ego I mean okay we can be silly and forgetful and uh unkind at times but we uh I would say befriend your ego but don't let it um in the driving seat oh dear uh I learned something very um helpful from my ADHD counselor just this week earlier this week um about this and uh it it's it's recognizing that the uh the ego um is very noisy and seeks our attention um maybe it's seeking dopamine hits all the time that's why we perhaps why we overthink or look for new things or new experiences all the time well in my case I do and uh she suggested that when a thought comes up that um is unhelpful or distracting from the from staying in the presence um she suggests saying well I hear what you say would let's talk about it I hear what you say let's talk about it later about 5:00 and so you don't need to destroy the ego you just need to distract it like a child tugging on mommy's skirt for sweets at the checkout that's all it is destroy the ego don't be so violent TW elel you in the sky I think I'm being a little unkind to John his he says he likes to say his favorite meditation is to look out of the window at the sky at the immensity of it the infinitude of it and the immediately brings him to rest and quietens his thoughts so absolutely all for that thank you John for myself I don't meditate on LCL the sky or even the infinitude it which seems to be Beyond imagination really with our finite man minds are they finite but I am completely Enchanted by the scale and diversity and Glory of our Cosmos and in our generation we're particularly fortunate in that we've had not only Hubble Space Telescope but now the James web Space Telescope which is like the IMAX version of Hubble and then extraordinary number of galaxies have become uh accessible to to uh the James web and of course they get shared on the internet did you know there's an International Space Station cam um and you can just log in and um Traverse the world from the space station viewing it from the space station extraordinary I think it's circum navigates the Earth 16 times a day and at night I'm sure you know this I'm sure you've seen this you can spot the International Space Station because well if I might be I might be mistaken I usually am about these things but I tell myself that uh if there's a steady light not a a blinking light is a plain but a completely steady light in an absolute Straight Arrow trajectory with no vapor trail at night that's the International Space Station now I reckoned John would love that he could live in a a capsu uh detached from the earth and especially detached from people that'd have to be there would have to be nobody else on the space station for John for for for them to survive or for John to survive but he has a point where does you your ground of being and the sky also you might argue the ground of being where is the dividing line uh without turning this into a uh philosophy of Mind Sunday morning talk just very briefly there is a very serious consideration from philosophers of mind and physicists and uh spiritual teachers theologians even that indeed um not only is everything connected but uh it's all a oneoff well no that's not the that's not the right expression what I mean to say is there is only one thing there is only what bertran Russell calls neutral stuff what uh Spinosa called substance what the physicist David B calls the implicate order and what rert Spy a fellow YouTuber calls um the light of pure knowing and I'll just come full circle to this morning's Mantra be still and know that I am God notice the being comes first before the knowing and then there is the knowing of that being see how that works knowing what knowing that I am [Music] just going back to uh John's love of the sky and its limitlessness as an aid to meditation or as indeed uh an exploration of true nature uh of course one of his uh favorite sayings is Don't Fence Me In and this uh is a yearning from the bottom of his heart from when he was a boy growing up in nature he uh he actually grew up you the first years in the south of England and in an architect designed house actually um chipperfield I believe I think it's in Hampshire anyway does doesn't matter so he was very much the country boy and the big open spaces and the big Open Sky were his friends John is very candid as you know about his uh he uh he's other people are not his favorite let's let's just put it that way shall we he's always felt an outsider a square pegan around hold yes an outsider a sort of classic English gentleman Outsider Explorer type really and so Don't Fence Me In was his watch word so for example when he went to uh San Francisco in the footsteps of a young teacher when John was in his mid-50s um and uh it didn't go so well after a couple of weeks a few weeks I think he was sharing um a house in mil Valley with mostly women and uh as you know John is not a big fan of talking so they threw him out in the end and uh true to his nature he took off into the desert where there's nobody where there no people to talk to him bless him uh and the same when he was in Australia he avoided the cities and the towns and he was when he was a young man talking about 20 I think 18 or 20 his father paid for passage to Australia uh and he he was a a cowboy on the range for um some weeks or maybe even months Don't Fence in his hero of course is uh Roy Rogers with his silver tassle Cowboy outfit and his silver pistol by his side riding his horse like a real man in the frontier except pulling up into a bar taking out his guitar and singing accompanied by his horse trigger Don't Fence Me In which uh there is a famous version of which you can listen to I'm not going to sing it which you can listen to on Spotify and other platforms are available uh yes Roy Rogers singing Don't Fence Me In I better be careful I don't get lost here because I'm not paying attention uh to the signs Which Way fell which way I think it's this way so John has a very strong call to Nature or more more than that to the Wide Open Spaces without any boundaries without any interference from hum whereas I I can share some of that uh desire not to be fenced in at least spiritually well no actually scrub that I don't mean spiritually uh I mean um I mean fenced in by conditioning fenced in by what we've been told fenced in by um other people's priorities fenced in by the media's agenda fenced in by values of a society which change economic values uh social values sexual values musical values uh they're all in a state of flux and so please Don't Fence Me In with your judgments of how I should or anybody else should live I have come to a great uh respect and fondness for my mate Peter uh without whom actually without him giving me a prod and my M Andrew giving me a prod in a bar overlooking player blaner on lanzarotti about five or six years ago now if it wasn't for them prodding me encouraging me uh I wouldn't have started this YouTube channel and just yesterday we we got to 500 members of the of the clan the YouTube channel Clan so thanks for joining uh uh what was that little word that has just eluded me let me just think on it a sec you'll be familiar with the Bayer tapestry uh with uh William the Conqueror and uh overcoming uh one in the eye for Harold uh I don't think Harold was English actually thought this is not a history lesson it's just come to mind um I think Harold was Scandinavian he might have been a viking I might be wrong there please correct me I don't know why I go off on these things H isn't life wonderful um on the Bayo tapestry in old French or or Latin or whatever it was there's there's a a sewing a tapestry of King William on Horseback with his sword drawn and the point is prodding his own foot soldiers and the translation is King William comforteth his [Laughter] troops it's a sort of comfort you can do without isn't it really oh I'm just a Walter softy I think we're all Walter softies now aren't we yes please Don't Fence Me In either but but it's a it's a question of discarding offloading conditioning you know uh Lily Tomlin say Lily Tomlin American comedian she says um when I was young I wanted to be someone but I should have been more specific bino he's hardcore I reckon he's walked probably all the way I think so I think he's walked about 500 kilm just going be M for a sit down maybe a chat we'll see Don't Fence Me [Music] In ah this is a change change your scenery change your foot path um off the side road turn right and this is proper it looks like very ancient Camino pathway this so we are walking in the footsteps of thousands of previous pilgrims now um I think 450,000 in the last year here so let's say conservatively 10 times that over the years now one in 4 and a half million pilgrims of course is completely incidental isn't it but in a life it's not for one little chispero it's it's not inconsequential and although one of only many many pilgrims is both humbling because you realize uh how small you are but it's also um a granding if that's the right word a granding hopefully it doesn't sound conceited but bigs you up going on a walk in the footsteps of many others brothers and sisters have a like mind and like spirit all walking the way of San Jack the Camino in quiet except for I can hear a Brooke to my right and birds all around me although if you notice what do you notice unfortunately all these trees and bushes they look dead to me we carry on Welcome to the Sunday morning staring competition see who gives in first they're not budging are they oh a little glance to the side the soon lose interest in me something much more interesting drink of water perhaps or a cafe cone there's there he's off these I believe are called chestnut brown big horns yep time for coffee you can just see behind the trees the top of the church Tower which is always a welcome site not so much because of the religious connotation or wanting to go to church on a Sunday morning which I don't I've done that for plenty of years two or three times on a Sunday but Don't Fence Me In to borrow a phrase the other thing that the church Tower signifies there is usually a bar or a cafe next to it and we just pray that either or both are open on a Sunday let's go and see another of the lovely things on the Cino especially with this lovely colored honey Stone um this looks both very old but very wellmaintained there are these chapels along the way uh it won't be open unfortunately not even this Sunday morning but look how nice and beautifully maintained it is and in the garden here there's a cherry tree and Blossom just to remind us that Nature's got here before us happy [Music] Sunday let us see take on poems blessings prayers love notes let's have a look shall we let's dip our hand in and just take one just take one let me see what this says let's see what this says the road must eventually lead to the whole world Jack carak on the road I started it I never finished it Jack caroak I hope that doesn't to mean I hope that isn't a portent for the Camino I start started it and I didn't finish it well wish me luck swear to [Music] just lit a candle here in this Niche for the [Music] pilgrims and it's very lovely that on this Sunday morning it's about noon I think uh it happens to be open to visitors and I'm going to sit down and uh say a little prayer on this Sunday morning for the lovely ones Those whom I I love and Those whom love me [Music] in in Sheffield in Sardinia in Mexico in London and here too [Music] this is a spitting image of my mate Dave the tattooist and he's got his own Monument ahead of me typical [Music] this is a delightful little village on the way and this is a highly regarded and highly recommended uh stopping off point and I've just enjoyed the local Galan speciality pulpo with a glass of wine and I'm very glad of it and on to the next and last stop for today the fourth day it's Sunday the first of hopefully three Sundays on my Camino this time and after a splendid excellent lovely Great Value lunch uh of close your ears octopus popo and a glass of wine or two uh in the highly recommended quite famous padell whatever it was and it must be time for a Sunday afternoon nap Sunday afternoon stroll after Tapas glass of Mino Blanco and the see us at a rest place and there appears to be nobody else on this Camino this year except me and this lovely broom In Bloom I call it broom what do you call it this is another benefit of Walking the Camino in the footsteps of other pilgrims here the stream makes the Camino very boggy but previous pilgrims have taken a detour through this wood through this cops and made a path easy to follow which comes out here above the water and so we don't get our boots muddy and we're back on dry land now isn't that a lesson in communal walking well we're not that high although it has been rising for the past hour and it is still first half of March the streams running down the pathway but there is snow I'm going to refresh myself with the snow all over my face the [Music]