In the final assignment, we wanted to investigate how the individuals who participated in
the pilgrimage on the Jacob's Way Of Life experienced this life experience and how it
helped them in the process of personal growth.
In the theoretical part, we briefly describe pilgrimage, its history and the pilgrimage route
on the Camino de Santiago based on selected previously studied literature and sources.
Motives and types of pilgrims are also briefly described. This is followed by the
presentation of the concept of personal growth, where the basic concepts according to
Maslow, Rogers and Erikson are described. Personal growth is closely related to the
process of pilgrimage through the elements of self-actualization, transcendence, values,
identity processes, life changes and post-traumatic personal growth. The experiential
dimensions of the pilgrimage and late modern pilgrimage experiences through the effects
of EHE, EE and TA are also explained. We were also interested in emotional processes
and different states of consciousness (liminality) during pilgrimage and how long walking
affects the body and mind.
In the empirical part, we conducted phenomenological research with the help of semi-structured interviews - six participants who participated in pilgrimages on the Camino de
Santiago at least once in their life took part in the interviews. The interviews were divided
into three main parts - the time before the pilgrimage, during the pilgrimage and after the
pilgrimage Based on the transcripts, an analysis of each participant's experience was
carried out and then we presented the identified individual psychological structures of
each participant's experience were presented, as well as an outline of common structure
of the participants' experience on the pilgrimage and the process of personal development.
The research showed that through the process of pilgrimage and the experience of the
pilgrim, many changes took place in regard to their physical, psychological and spiritual
levels. The participants grew personally and improved their physical abilities, became
psychologically stronger and spiritually awakened. Even to this day, the pilgrimage
represents a recall of pleasant feelings and a safe space from which they can still draw
strength to overcome life's challenges.
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