It's Not So Difficult

Beyond comparisons - it's the mind that frees the body. It's the silence between thoughts that frees the mind. Our truth is the center. Directionless. In the refusal to follow thought we become empty of all save reality. Our steps know nothing of difficulty - only motion and its pause. Adding thought to the equation creates the duality of conditions. Believing these thoughts split our world in two. Just run. Allow all things to pass. Be witness to inner commentary. Believe and don't believe. And distance will flow on its own accord.

Peace,

Eric

Truth. Lies And The Tao Of Running

Nothing exist. Yet our thoughts and flesh say otherwise. And that is the subtle message of reality. Everything is a finite truth within the infinite expansion of spirit. Knowing this is freedom. We are beyond the judgment of existence. And so we play. For those who run - distance is the echo of a single step. We see the infinite spread from this moment. Running is simply the pleasure of awareness as the echo fades to the illusion of a finish. The anguish and glory, elation and defeat  - all rules within the game. They're ours to change or cherish to our choosing. They are real only for the briefness of a moment. This is the truth of the Tao - and yet even this is false in its statement. So simply play the game and run.

Enjoy (or not)

Peace,

Eric

A Mobius Path

A Mobius path - our steps along a singular reality seen unique from their perspective. Run from the center. Be grounded by earth and air and our connection to both. Have faith in the flight of imagination. In the fluidity of existence everything belongs and nothing falls from order. Things simply are. This is how we run with the Tao: We can suffer and enjoy, find bliss in our discomfort, see eternity within a single moment and know each step is both are first and last. We run in the allowance of all things - free from our demands.

Peace,

Eric

Don't Know

Don't know - and in this uncertainty we

find the promise held by

distance.

Our every step is full of wonder.

~

In Zen the "don't know" mind is the state of pure potentiality  - not only do we not have answers but our questions are asked only to lead us more into mystery. That's why we run. It's an open-ended question of how much we may give ourselves to distance at any moment. How open are we to receive the fullness of earth with each step and the breadth of sky on every breath. We don't know - yet with every step we ask these questions.

Peace,

Eric

From This Point

From this point - the

infinite.

And every step after.

~

We are an experience of the infinite. From this regard - running is the self caress of existence.

Enjoy.

Peace,

Eric

Shifting Perspective

On it's own accord - motion exist as an invitation to be joined in a marriage of spirit and form. It's a unique state of union. Motion is a shift of perspective of our existence - stillness carried through distance with a keen awareness that we are both states at once. In the singularity of our Being we are all things and stillness and motion coincide as distinct aspects of our pure expression. When we are able to make this inner nod towards motion - stillness acts in harmony within the framework of our creative whole. Nothing is lost and running becomes an art form of shifting awareness. It's the true gift of running with spirit.

Peace,

Eric

Running To Tao

More than distance - our truth, beauty and mystery offered in reflection. Running is the exploration of self given solid form. We seek a path only for convenience of body and to break the flight of mind. The path brings us intimate to the ground of our existence. We are spacious and yet as well we are earth and bone and flesh.

Running shows us who we are.

But only in the depth beyond appearance.

Peace,

Eric

Selfless

Selfless - our every step seeks not just to

be the stride but to lose itself

against the earth.

~

Imagine if we could run like this - unconcerned with all but to be a touch against the earth. Distance would be a welcome stretch for our arrival.

This is our invitation.

Peace,

Eric

Drawn

Drawn by love - and the earth is

touched by our

devotion.

Every step falls with meaning.

Peace,

Eric

Let Go And...

a continuous letting go...and every

step becomes our

stride.

~

It's not simply letting go - it's a full hearted surrender to the void of expectations. We are carried by steps that have lost themselves in the grandness of possibilities. A single step becomes a stretch of distance and every step is promised more. Yet first they must surrender - and more they relinquish their hold on air and ground. They are free to become.

And so are we.

Peace,

Eric

Reality

All that was before - our path became by steps once taken. And now the path is clear and waits for our becoming. Running takes us beyond timelines - a continuous stretch of awareness. There is magic in the present step. It's the pinpoint of the infinite. Once placed to earth and reality gathers to its existence. Yet we're always free to step again.

Peace,

Eric

Run Deep

From the mind - distance is projected to meet our steps. Motion is the flow of thoughts and scenery a revelation from inner worlds. There is no outside - only aspects of self brought new to our awareness. This is our creation. Enjoy it. Participate in its becoming.

Run deep.

Peace,

Eric 

Unhurried

Even when fast - we are unhurried. Our pace is internal and aligned to a deeper world. There is no rush to achieve nor a hold to expectations. Everything unfold in the perfection of the moment. Our desires are precious yet held lightly. Nothing will last but the essence of all things remain. And so we run - knowing sure that each step alone is our destination.

Peace,

Eric

Running With Kindness

The path always leads to kindness. Running is the template of our brokenness, of our urge to feel complete, of our desires and dreams both unfilled and realized. It's life in distance form. And our every step is that one choice given - to be kind in the face of what is now present. Kindness is the compassion shown as self care. It's the realization that our steps are shared by earth and that we are joined by breath and being to others as well. What we do matters. Who we are matters. Running only seems insular - in fact we are organisms dancing within a shared world. It's one great Being. Kindness counts. Maybe more than anything at all. So run strong. Run fast or slow. But allow each step to be a demonstration of our basic goodness - towards ourselves, each other and the world.

Peace,

Eric

Calm Abiding

Just wait.
The next breath
falls...

Always on its own.

~

And then as well...each step holds the promise of carrying us just a little further than the one that came before.

There is no hurry.

Peace,

Eric

Bear Witness

And then awake - the Buddha asked the earth to bear witness to his truth. The ground replied in absorption to his touch. In this moment they were one. Through distance we seek our own awakening.

Every step is full of this potential.

And the earth will bear witness to our truth.

Peace,

Eric 

Listening With The River

To sit and listen with the
river...
As a breeze whispers secrets
through the grass.
And birds sing nothing to the air but
the carried flight of their
expansion.
The river moves in stillness.
While I sit in the quiet motion of
my thoughts -

Listening with the river.

~

And true of distance as well - motion carried to a depth of stillness. Here - we listen to our bodies. The breath merging to a touch of air. Our steps received by the earth in soft welcome. We listen to distance itself as it parts for our allowance. Subtle sounds. Heard only in a quiet mind.

Peace,

Eric

Demise And Becoming

Empty of self - and distance spreads as

our existence.

~

We are of two identities - the small self of ego and possessions and the selfless Self of our true spacious existence. Running prepares us for the shift to our larger nature. Through distance we grow lighter in our sense of being - shedding the weight of need and expectations. Distance is both our demise and our becoming. It's the truth of who we are.


Peace,
Eric

Through Distance

a continuous letting go - until nothing

left but the sacred space we

used to be

~

Distance is our return to original holiness - we are stripped past bone and thought to the very source of our becoming. Distance demands a continuous letting go - a lessening of all but essential nature of the self. Life is the weight of expectations. Our world grows heavy. Few go far beyond the limits we inherit. There is a sirens call from edge of who we think we are. You see distance is not the unfamiliar - and that's what scares us. We are afraid to reawaken to our own mystery and experience again our infinite nature. We have been tamed by false beliefs and reliance on the senses. The far worlds that call are no more then aspects of self we thought we left behind. We almost got lost. Yet we heard that faint call from the edge. We seemed to remember a weightless sense of self that held no boundaries. We followed the sirens call. We ran - and found ourselves through distance.

Peace,

Eric

Auspiciousness

It's auspicious - the earth to receive our steps and sky giving of its air. There is no better time to travel. We've been offered the perfection of this moment. To run is our acceptance and more it's the completion of drawn forces brought together for the occurrence of this possibility. It's our time to run.

Peace,

Eric



Celebrated

Steps falling - and the earth

delights in their

reception.

~

We are celebrated. Indeed the earth delights in the mindfulness of our contact and spreads itself in distance. We are meant to travel - to offer ourselves as a return caress in a run of steps and breath. To run is to give thanks. It's the deepest of prayers - the joy of motion displayed in grateful form.

Peace,

Eric

Deeper Surrender

A deeper surrender - and every

step becomes the

earth.

~

The world is an active participant in our running - both air and terrain a giving force for us to know. We are welcomed in their depth of mystery. We are told that we belong. And we are asked to surrender ourselves in the faith of becoming something more. For all we give of effort and will- we are lessened too of their burden. In the midst of trying - we become.

Peace,

Eric

 

A Step - A Thought

Each step is like a thought - a pinpoint of activity within a vast stretch of ground and consciousness. The infinite remains unperturbed. Running is simply awareness given pause and then again a nod to motion. It's the flow of mind given form. We are not the step and we are not the thought - we are the ground of pure existence that allows the passing of their focus.

Peace,

Eric

Our Arrivial

Every step a letting go. It's how we travel. Each breath is eventually released. It's how we live. Running is the continuous gift of surrender.

It's how we arrive.

Peace,

Eric

Thoughts From A Rambling Run

Before the world was material fact - it was immaterial fiction dancing in the mind of something so much larger than ourselves. The world was thought into existence. Each of us come from this original mind - a thought flickered into being. We are still largely fiction. Our bodies mostly void save particles swirling worlds apart. Clearly we are something more. Perhaps this is what calls a runner to distance - the void exposed as our identity and reclaiming ourselves as infinite space. Running is our exposure. Labels are dropped as excess weight against the soul. Eventually we stand alone and unadorned - the universe in finite form.

Peace,

Eric 

Instructions To The Runner In The Rain

Offer no resistance - allow rain to be a

line against you.

And then slowly merge as

one.

~

These are the words that played through my mind as I ran through the rain today - instructions. Where the words came from I have no idea. But I suspect they were a message from the rain itself, or whispered from the clouds, or even farther than the reach of sky. What matters is that I heard - and offered a reply in return. Thank you, thank you, thank you. And indeed it seemed we merged as one.

Peace,

Eric

Worshipped

Indeed running is a prayer - a devotion told wordless to ground and air. Yet we too are caressed by devotion. The world stretched far to know our steps. The sky is endless to in its giving and reception of our breath. We are worshiped beyond thought and form. Running is an open dialogue - a prayer told and a prayer received.

Peace,

Eric

The Third Way

This is the third way - existing past the points of thought and form. Here, we run - yet more we extend an awareness of self found through breath and steps taken. It's the path of our creation . Running is just the act of remembrance - a familiar caress of who we are. The third way is not about arrival. It's the way of simply Being.

Peace,

Eric

At Once

This is the true experience of

running -

Bringing our awareness to finite points along the

infinite way.

~

It's like this - our awareness is limited in focus in order to streamline the infinite vision of our reality. We are literally all places at once. So with the fraction of a glance eternity will spread before us - inviting steps to follow. It's not what we see - it's what we know.

Peace,

Eric