The Tao of Distance Running - # 42

Ordinary men hate solitude.
But the Master makes use of it,
embracing his aloneness, realizing
he is one with the whole universe.

                                                                        *

~
We run alone - yet not without others. The spaciousness of our solitude is
matched by the fullness of nature. It's our connection - and a
runners reach is found in thought and stride.
We say much in the quiet exchange of a glance...and so
much more shared on the common path we
travel.


The world is vast...and yet we find ourselves together.

• We are pieces of a whole and more - we are the whole as well. As runners we become mindful of a shared aloneness. As miles accumulate our loneliness expands to truly be a lone experience of all that is. Nothing, no one, can excluded as then we enter back into duality and our run lessens again to separate worlds. Running seems solitary only in the illusion of thought and body. In stillness we are the hushed nature of reality. In motion we sweep the world with the stride of our caress. Distance is the common factor that removes illusions of being kept apart. We run to know ourselves as whole. We run to know ourselves as one. We run to find ourselves together. 

Peace,

Eric

*

Portion of the Tao Te Ching translated by Stephen Mitchell