Magical the moments

Sometimes I feel like I’m being swallowed up by time: so many things to arrange for the opening of the Walk of Wisdom on June 21st… so-and-so bells … that and that change on the website …. Putting this and that on track. Even in moments of calm, ideas come in what I can do to put the route on the map better, make it more meaningful, make it run more smoothly.

The nice thing about working on a pilgrimage route is that its character puts things into perspective: this ‘way in’ is not about chasing deadlines or closing deals, but about the realization of peace with yourself and your place in the greater whole. Sometimes you have to run for a while. Other times, you can laze on the grass. It both has its place and function.

Function.

I long to be more than that: a function, a cog in a machine. That desire is the foundation of this route. Ten years ago I had started a practice in speechwriting in The Hague, I was riding my bike there and came from an appointment with the head of a communication department. We had made a deal that I would write a few speeches for a Minister or Secretary of State. The interview had gone well, the head was satisfied with my qualities. But deep down, I was unhappy. I cycled slowly and slumped and looked up at the new buildings. They were beautiful buildings, they radiated something of future and authority, of dignity and flair, I would have liked to be part of that. Now I belonged, but it didn’t do much for me anymore.

Interchangeability – that was the turn-off. Suddenly, there on my bike, I saw that what I was doing could just as easily be done by someone else. Oh, I might be able to make a difference in my own way, but writing speeches for someone else’s mind took a lot of effort, and I was stunned when I once went to listen to my text being pronounced. What I heard was so far removed from the soul I had put into it. The glow I felt when writing was completely invisible. And – I realized on my bike, looking up at the mirrored glass of one of the largest buildings – actually superfluous. The text could just as easily have been written by someone else. Even better, because it was probably not so driven to make something tangible in the text of what connects us in this day and age.

I kept things up for a few more months there in The Hague and completed them neatly. After that, I set course for another city to eventually end up in Nijmegen. I find in many people here something of the space and cordiality that I would have liked to express in my speeches. I can do here what has a function, but at the same time – as far as I know – is not done by anyone else. I only have to walk out of the streets and walk into nature: the city is surrounded by it. I enjoy and relax as I am greeted by the birds and greenery, the hills and the trees. The silence, but also the nobility of when there were rich people who wanted to make something Good and Pure with money.

It is the area around the route that we will open on June 21st. Four to six days are spent with telephone and internet as much as possible, in symbolic connection with other people and “Life”. The fact that I can work on that makes me feel good – just like the new people who come to help me all the time. That feeds my faith. That’s how I behave. Thanks to that support, I am convinced that we can create something beautiful here.

Freedom and connection: magical are the moments when they come together. I am wholeheartedly committed to this.