A Practice

First, very often, with an awakening of spiritual knowledge through medtation, contemplation and reading spiritual text, there comes a denial of the physical - we realize that we are not our bodies. Mystics through the ages have become stuck in this stage - the Buddha himself for quite some time denied the body and lived on a single grain of rice a day until he sat under the bhodi tree and saw the wisdom of the middle way. It was thought that through denial of the body that we could enter a higher state on consciousness and this was so - to a point - but it keeps the seeker stuck in the mode of denial. The body is not our ultimate reality - but it is a reality. Tantra teaches that through the body we can gain excess to our highest states. The body and its desires become a vehical to reach enlightenment and the ecstasy of Divine union. This is true as well but the body is often dismissed as just the vehical. I have always honored the paths of others and have tried to learn and apply as much as I could on my own path. And paths - trails - running - I think this too is a way to God. The Hopi's of the American South West would do spirit runs to the oceans edge, purging themselves of all that was non essential to thier divinity. We can do likewise. Every run can be training of the spirit and every race a celebration and remembrence of the Source in which we came from. The key is to run - and to discard all that is not motion, breath and spirit. It's a practice.Try it.

Peace,
Eric