Journey To Peace and Joy

Journey To Peace And Joy

I have just lit the third candle in the Season of Advent 2018, the season of hope, peace, joy, and love. I thought about Christmas…if we understand ourselves, we understand the meaning of this season. From the time humans existed, every soul has deep longings. Some of us find hg and know there is more to this life of earthly existence. Some of us may deny it, but it is nonetheless true for all of us. I am thankful and cannot discount the blessings, the episodes of awe, moments of happiness, and exhilaration in my life. In retrospect, there were moments in my life when I could really say, “That was wonderful.” From the Library of Congress, I have just received a Certificate of Registration issued under the Copyright Office, which attests that registration for my book “Free Pilgrim 2” has been made a part of the Copyright Office records. That was also wonderful! Actually, I have always had the temptation to tell relatives and friends that my books’ stories are important. I share my stories because I care and hope they read them.

Before leaving on this particular journey to Central Europe, I had read a research study conducted by UBC and McGill University that found Vancouver, where I reside, as the unhappiest city in Canada. This even though the London-based Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) ranked it 6th among the 10 most “livable” cities in the world even though it had fallen three spots from its third-place position in 2017’s survey. Perhaps happiness is found not in how much we have obtained but in how little we demand. Perhaps the cost of living is high, and/or we Vancouverites are being caged in some way? “The greatest need of our time is to clean out the enormous mass of mental and emotional rubbish that clutters our minds.” – Thomas Merton. Perhaps we need to be freed of these clutters? But when we live on the edge in this confusing world, in this uncertain time of cacophony and spiritual war of deception, who will set us free?

After two hours by Flixbus on a cool Autumn day in October 2018, I arrived in Karlovy Vary from the old beautiful city of Prague, Czech Republic. Upon arrival, we could not find a taxi stand at the Bus Terminus but were fortunate enough that an unoccupied taxi was passing by and the driver could speak some English. We piled our 2 suitcases into the limited space of the trunk of his small car. I could see he was eyeing us in the rear-view mirror. He probably found it strange that a Chinese couple would arrive at the world-famous Spa Town of Karlovy Vary (Carlsbad) by Flixbus. The road to our hotel was a bit winding. It appeared to me that our driver knew every corner and turn of the road. He was driving rather speedily, terrifying us with his kamikaze way of handling the car. But we arrived at Hotel Petr (yes, it’s the correct spelling) safely. We didn’t like and felt uncomfortable with the room to which we were assigned. There was a feeling that we needed to change room. Peace came to us the moment we settled down in the Charles suite. I had just successfully persuaded the lady at the check-in counter to reassign us to this room, which overlooked the Colonnade. I think it was not really the so-called “gift of the gap” but rather my age that did most of the persuasion.

From time immemorial hot springs have arisen on the confluence of the rivers Ogre and Teplá, approximately 130 km (81 mi) west of Prague. Karlovy Vary is world-famous for Hydrotherapy. We did not take any spa treatment during our visit. We were advised that the therapeutic procedure entailed several phases, i.e., the Input (adaptation) phase (1st to 10th day), the custom treatment phase (2nd or 3rd week), and the Down phase (the end of the 3rd week or possibly the 4th week). However, we did explore the underground thermal springs. We tasted the Karlovy Vary thermal mineral water of various temperatures ranging from 55.6 degrees Celsius of the Trzni Kolonada to 72 degrees Celsius of the Vridelni Kolonada with spouted ceramic drinking cups, which we purchased from the nearby stall.

I am informed that the Karlovy Vary thermal mineral water composes a highly concentrated mix of natural substances. Over 40 elements necessary for the human body are analyzed. The Springs have similar composition but differ mainly in temperature and the quantity of carbon dioxide, other gases, and trace elements, thereby giving different tastes and healing effects. Even though the quality of the thermal hot spring water has not changed over the centuries, its usage has evolved. Today The Drinking Cure is a fundamental treatment procedure in Karlovy Vary. We were advised that the drinking cure has a positive effect on the entire digestive tract and motor system. It stimulates the secretion of insulin in people with diabetes and reduces cholesterol, but it is not advisable to combine the therapeutic cure with the consumption of alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, etc.…

It is no secret that Vancouver’s air quality where I reside (though better than that of most major cities) is not really conducive to a healthy lifestyle. Besides, we are also aware of the negative effects a sedentary lifestyle has on civilization’s “disease.” Over dinner, we discussed and determined to make an early start the next morning to explore this lovely town on foot as we always do when able. As a pilgrim, I always try to visit a church in an unfamiliar location. I had read that the Russian Orthodox Church of Saint Peter and Paul, Karlovy Vary, is the country’s largest and most important orthodox church. We walked from our hotel to this church, passing the old Anglican Church of St. Luke, which had already been converted into a museum. The golden domes of Saint Peter and Paul attracted our attention from a distance as they shone in the sun on this bright sunny day of our visit. The church was still under reconstruction during our visit, but we were allowed to enter it. It is a single-aisle church of Byzantine style. Although we couldn’t see much of the interior, we could still enjoy its exquisite white, and blue exteriors with the murals of saints painted on them. The visit to this church became one of the highlights of our trip to this Spa Town.

From the Church, we walked slowly down the road, noticing a group of elderly hikers playing like school children in the park opposite. A girl bunched her scarf up and sat on it in the middle of the field while watching her friends playing frisbee in the Autumn wind. I spent the next hour watching the sky, and at the trees with leaves falling and twirling down toward me, coming into my line of vision, and then being whisked off to the side by the wind or a passing car. As I walked around the park trying to take a perfect shot of the church, my Merrell hiking shoes, the same shoes I used to walk the Camino Frances, crunched the leaves on the ground upon which I walked. Those dried leaves, of course, are already a myriad of beautiful golden hues. I looked around and then, as if waking from a dream, suddenly realized how beautiful an Autumn day could be in this fabulous town…

For the next couple of days, we mingled with tourists in the city and amused ourselves, watching them being herded around. Indeed, the first thing we noticed was the high number of Chinese visitors bringing steady revenues to several Chinese restaurants in town. There were also many Russians in town, and we met a friendly couple who stayed in the room opposite us. I was informed that the Russians contributed towards the reconstruction of St. Peter and St. Paul church we had just visited. Numerous stalls and shops were selling spouted ceramic drinking cups. We saw many who were probably day-trippers strolling along the impressive colonnades, with these spouted ceramic drinking cups in their hands and sipping the sulfurous waters collected from the thermal fountains.

On the morning of the fourth day, we fortified ourselves with a good breakfast and strong tea and resolved to move on like brave soldiers to go anywhere and do anything! I had on hand a Spa Walks guide, which we picked up from the Tourist information office. There are many lovely walking trails in the forests surrounding Karlovy Vary. I decided that we should take a mixture of trails leading eventually to Zamecky Virk (Diana). “I hear I forget, and I see I remember, I do I understand.” As I write this journal, I realized that I had actually “lived” this mixed trail. I more or less knew and understood it retrospectively because of the “impression” it had on me. That “impression,” even though less profound than that which the Camino Frances had on me, had the same encouraging introspection, which also led to increased knowledge and understanding. Am I being self-centered or getting a little more spiritual with advancing age? Many years from now, I might be telling this story with a smile… With so many wonderful trails crisscrossing in the woods, I took this one less (perhaps never) travelled by, and that has made all the difference…

“In many a walk

At evening or by moonlight, or reclined.

At midday, upon beds of forest moss,

Have we to Nature and her impulses

Of our whole being made gift, and when

Our trance had left us, oft have we, by aid.

Of the impressions which it left behind

Looked inward on ourselves, and learned, perhaps,

Something of what we are.”- William Wordsworth

“The woods are lovely, dark and deep,

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.” – David Frost

Swiebodzin Poland

From Karlovy Vary, we went by train to Nuremberg and Berlin, then travelled eastward again and ended up in Poland. I promised myself that I would share this story. I like to tell relatives and friends that I like to travel on the road and to places less-travelled. One of the amazing things about traveling to non-touristic places is that even with that knowledge I gained from (or through the eyes of) Doctor Google, my expectations would pale compared with what would actually appear before my own eyes. New places that I have never before visited always astound me. It changes my perception of the world we live in, with different awe-inspiring sceneries, landscapes, flavour and cultures, the wonderful people (different from us and yet the same) and the good side of them which we never knew. Strangers come into our lives for a reason. We were lost, and a stranger walked with us and showed us how to get to Berlin Lichtenburg station from where we would take the train to Swiebodzin, a small, unassuming town in Western Poland, and a vendor in this small, unassuming town who declined payment from May for her apple…The name of this quiet town “Swiebodzin” struck me with the sound of “We both sin.”

On the way to our lodging in Swiebodzin, I was struck by the sight of Christ The King, a statue standing majestically on a small hill. We checked into the small hotel nearby. Our hostess, who did not speak English, used sign language to show us our room, which turned out to be a nice suite. She managed to convey to us some understanding that she would bring us breakfast the next day, which she did. .The place looked deserted as we did not see anyone else in the small hotel. This is certainly not a tourist-infested place. We walked to the small village town nearby and after a simple “dinner” retired to the bedroom in our suite. There was a portrait of John Paul II hanging on the wall. This was the first time I stayed in a bed-room with the portrait of a Pope!

On my first night in this town, a strange thing happened. On that night, I had a “Field of Dreams” moment too. Many people have misquoted what Shoeless Joe Jackson said. I had built the site: www.freepilgrim.com but have people come? Still, I must write about this journey and share this story because I care. That evening we decided to rise early to explore Swiebodzin by foot immediately after breakfast. However, when morning broke, we nearly relented on our determination because we saw through the window a thick chilly mist. A dark, ominous cloud was forming, and the distant rumblings warned us that a thunderstorm was approaching. Our fitness levels were not ideal, but I suppose for our age, deemed serviceable. However, May’s early morning habit is more like that of a Shanghai lady than a Shaolin or an Athenian than a Spartan. The only time we both got up this early as we were on the Camino five years ago. Yet, despite the struggle, we managed to catch the early morning crisp air. The opportunity to explore would not arrive for us if we did not take it today. I observed the sky one more time and realized that the rain was not imminent. With the hope that perhaps the weather would change for the better for us, we continued with our exploration of this less-travelled location in Poland…

Along our walk in the neighbourhood I heard a man lecturing and scolding his dog, which apparently was barking too loud. This disturbed the peace and joy of the early morning and displeased him immensely.

Certainly, some would deem it cruel to do so as some tendered-hearted deemed it a sin to exterminate the flies and mosquitoes and consider it a wee-bit short of murder to kill a snake. Well, there are differences of opinion in this world, and maybe as well there should be! We walked by some houses and saw pomegranates weighing on the branches and a police station with policemen just hanging around without “business” to attend to…and the rain never came…

Swiebodzin is an important transportation hub with the A2 and S3 motorways crossing near it. Rail lines run from Berlin, passing through Swiebodzin to Poznan and onwards to Warsaw. Because of its geographical position, the town’s population very likely had a mixed Polish and German ancestry, but Germans were the majority by the early modern period. Despite the local conflicts and the turbulent years of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation of the 16^th and early 17^th centuries, the demographics changed, and the town expanded economically. The center of Swiebodzin still contains remnants of the town’s past as a walled settlement. There were two nearly intact towers and fragments of the town’s defensive walls and bastions at the time of our visit. The Town Hall built around 1550 in the renaissance style, dominates the central market square. It was rebuilt in the 19th century with a prominent clock tower that is standing impressively today.

In the summer of 2008, construction of a giant statue of Christ the King began on a hill at the town’s outskirts. It was intended to serve as a site for future pilgrimage. The statue lays claim to be the tallest and largest statue of Jesus. It was completed in November 2010, funded by donations from local people and people as far away as Canada. It is composed of concrete and fiberglass. Wikipedia provides a helpful chart and list comparing the heights of the world’s tallest Christ statues. Christ The King in Swiebodzin Poland, which is not so well known as Christ The Redeemer of Rio de Janeiro (constructed between 1922 and 1931), is listed as the tallest in the world today. It is 33.85 metres with the crown, and without the crown at 33 metres tall, symbolizing a traditional belief that Jesus’s age at his death was 33…“By His death, he opened to us the way of freedom and peace.” On the earthly level, I walked all the way up to the base of the statue and realized that my journey has to continue on the spiritual level to get nearer to Christ…

I am finishing this journal in preparation to light the fourth candle of Advent, and Christmas is soon upon us …Maranatha, Come Jesus come …

Just a thought:

Perhaps we are still in bondage and need to be freed to find peace and joy in this life. But when we live on the edge in this confusing world, in this uncertain time of cacophony and spiritual war of deception, who will set us free?

To find the joy, we need first to find peace.

To find the peace, we need to be truly free.

“If the Son, therefore, shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” + John 8:36 (KJV).

“Come, walk with me.” Together we will walk to The Prince of Peace…