One of the benefits of running on the machine is the amount of thinking that I do. Towards the end of my run I started thinking about what made the archetypal ‘wise man’ wise?
On a Strawbs album when I was growing up there was a quote from the Buddha:
As a man of discernment, standing on a rocky eminence, boholdeth those who are below and in distress; so doth the sage, who by his wakefulness hath put to flight his ignorance, look down upon suffering mankind from the heights of wisdom that he hath attained.
It’s from memory, so it might not be strictly accurate, but the question remains: how did the sage put to flight his ignorance?
The curiosity to observe what was going on around him and the humility to do it without judgement? The perception to see behind the obvious and the flexibility of thinking to embrace this new information. The courage to challenge dogma and the resilience to keep going when this got hard work?
These are all relevant sterling qualities, but is there also some reason they often seemed to favour living in the wilderness… even if it was only for 40 days and 40 nights?
I think the reason has to do with the way that blue sky thinking comes to us. To my mind the sky is on the inside, held as one of the millions of life-inputs captured within our subconscious. It is within this entity that ideas happen and all that is required to access them is a quiet conscious mind.
You’ll have to forgive this slightly kookie subject… it’s the kind of thing that happens when I stare at a white wall for half an hour. Along with myriad ideas for how to easily suspend an iPad in front of the running machine to give me something to think about while I’m running.
I ran 5 miles in 42.40, an average of 7mph and I’d like to leave you with something else that has been running around in my mind… if you have time to watch it?
