Returning from Camino

Returning from Camino
A book review by Larry Duggins

Alexander Shaia is a wise and experienced man with a fascinating combination of lived and acquired knowledge. He has studied hard to build a wonderful base of psychological, theological and anthropological knowledge, and he has tempered those with the life experience of an immigrant and a pilgrim. Returning from Camino is a gift of both acquired and lived wisdom as it applies to the Camino in particular and to pilgrimage in general. The book is a series of insights and suggestions that carry the weight of the wisdom of experience. It addresses the question of "what now" with a patient and gentle hand.

Returning from pilgrimage is often difficult because it is largely uncharted territory. Pilgrimage itself is designed to facilitate encounter with the Holy Spirit in a way that is out of the norm. When that encounter happens, the pilgrim is left with the question of how exactly the pilgrim re-enters their old life with this new perspective or attitude. Alexander asks a series of good questions and suggests some simple techniques to help address that conundrum.