Transcendence
There is a state of transcendence which many athletes have the good fortune to experience. In this state, you come closer to yourself than you ever have.
Lose yourself to find yourself.
This transcendence can be imagined as a blissful flow state, and I have experienced it in multiple different sports including weightlifting, yoga, bouldering, capoeira, and BJJ. It requires you to push past the furthest place you have ever been, beat both mental and physical fatigue, and step outside of your comfort zone, owning every second of it. In a society lacking of ritualistic transitions from childhood to adulthood, these transcendental moments are rites of passage (reference “King, Warrior, Magician, Warrior”1). Put simply, redefine your limits and
What happens when this transcendental state is reached? We break out of the narrative which was constructed largely without your consent. Emerson (reference “The Spiritual Emerson”3) says “infancy conforms to nobody; all conform to it; so that one babe commonly makes four or five out of the adults who prattle and play to it… Bashful or bold then, he will know how to make us seniors very unnecessary.” The pure energy, divine light, blissful core, whatever you call it, uninhibitedly flows from children. Yet they are fragile creatures completely dependant on the other for survival, much as a mortal might be under the control of a benevolent or malevolent god. In a child’s mind, this “god” is the highest, most infallible creature to exist simply because any other truth is ill suited for an innocent babe. This is why children are completely subject to those whose job it is to teach them about the world. If we grow up with loving parents, we can give and accept love much more easily than someone with neglectful parents. Children are products of their environments and, in theory, adults create their environments. Unfortunately, many adults never make it out of the camel (reference “thus spoke zarathustra 2) stage of their lives. They never reach the point where they begin to challenge the status quo. “Because I said so” will no longer suffice. The urge to create and explore overwhelms the need to be secure and protected. Many do not reach this place because they were never blessed with a rite of passage. These largely unconscious humans lead a life in which they are either too scared of the unknown to take the plunge, or too comfortable to ever consider a radical shift in their lives.
For the lions of the world, important questions begin to be screamed into the universe. Why do I always find significant others who cheat on me? Why do people seem to disrespect me everywhere I go? Why do people feel compelled to help me even without my asking? Because our prior experiences have shaped our self image in such a way! What we have experienced and been told to believe morphs into our being which attracts and repels it’s own deepest desires and aversions. “He takes only his own out of the multiplicity that sweeps circles around him”3 . Once we become a lion2 we are freed from society’s shackles of slavery and begin to intelligently design a new reality for ourselves. No longer does life live you, you live life. No longer does the wave ride you, you ride the wave. Shift the locus of control back within yourself. Make decisions informed on your deepest heart’s desires instead of catering to a comparison driven paradigm in which, with every step, brings you halfway to the unreachable goal of happiness.
This is where find inner peace. Push our limits, embrace the unknown, refuse to compromise while creating your own reality.
Do not go gentle into that goodnight
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.4
References
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