Why Run?

I must like to run. I mean I go on jogs fairly regularly which means maybe 2-4 times a week if the weather permits. Its the same 1 mile route every time and right around the half mile mark I start hating myself for even putting running shoes on. This is mostly because my lungs feel like they're collapsing and my feet feel like lead weights. Yet, whenever there is a nice day and I'm inside I'm thinking about goin on that run. So what is it that drags me out to that torturous pavement? To fully appreciate what I mean I'm gonna tell a completely different story.

In my last blog post, Godeologies, I wanted to explore Buddhism a little further. Low and behold a two hour special on Siddhartha (the first Buddha) appeared on television. It really was a great introduction to Buddhism. The principles of Buddhism are centered on following the path of enlightenment, which is the realization of a greater truth or knowledge. In India around 5 BC Siddhartha left his family to search for knowledge. He was not the first one to look for a path to divine truth, and he is generally portrayed as an average man who, in seeing pain and human suffering, yearned for some understanding of the world around him. I'll try to give only a meat and potatoes background here. After having many masters Siddhartha became discouraged in his journey for truth. He learned that True Knowledge does not only come from ritual practice, but it also must come from within which is understood to be meditation to push the limits of our minds. A common practice was asceticism which is to deprive yourself of worldly desires. Asceticism includes fasting, celibacy, and torturing your own body. Siddhartha practiced asceticism but found that it did not answer the questions he had.  After these struggles the story says that Siddhartha sat beneath a ficus tree with a bowl of rice pudding and meditated like a beast. He achieved nirvana, which is to say he realized his enlightenment by defeating the god of desire, Mara, and reviewing all his past lives.

After his enlightenment Siddhartha is unchanged. Buddhism is not about being special, it is about being normal. It is about realizing that we are already enlightened. We just have to open our eyes and realize the beauty in the mundane. The path to nirvana is not about following a set of rules, or worshiping some god, but about maintaining a balance in life. Buddhism is the pursuit of knowledge, understanding that everything is connected and cyclical, in life there will be death. As there is joy there is also suffering. Buddhism accepts that there is greed, anger, and ignorance in the world and we must match them with generosity, compassion, and wisdom rather than denying them. I really like the practicality of Buddhism.

So what does this have to do with jogging? I think jogging is my form of meditation. It's really weird to stop and think about how powerful your mind is and jogging is one example of this. Picture me at that half mile marker when my body is saying "I'm not going to keep running, lets walk it out big guy." I know I'm only halfway done and I really have to focus to overcome physical limits. Eventually running a mile doesn't become much of an issue, it is running a faster mile that becomes the driving motivation. The fact that I will always be able to convince myself that I could run faster induces intense concentration when I'm out there gasping for breath. If meditating is similar to jogging then I can see why it is such a popular practice. There is always that moment right after completing the jog when I am simultaneously feeling the most pain and the joy of accomplishing something. Now consider the focus needed to run and complete a marathon (who's in?). The difference between the focus and determination of  marathoners and my measly 1 mile must be similar to a zen master and his disciple.

I'm trying to think of other activities that could offer similar benefits as jogging. Maybe it would be easier to think of jogging as aerobic meditation. I don't think playing organized sports would fit the analogy since most of them aren't really aerobic. And of course all sports require focus but I'm not sure there is a mental analogue in sports to willing yourself to keeping your feet moving when you absolutely don't want to. Biking and swimming are probably close but running is such a pure activity. There's no mechanical assistance or special skills required other than the ability to move your feet. I might be saying that though because I'm an awful swimmer. I guess I enjoy jogging because it is the easiest way to test my physical limits and like Siddhartha I must over come my God of desire. In this case it is the God of Relaxation.

Why run? Perhaps it is better to run than to walk the path towards enlightenment.

Next: It's About Time