January 09, 2005
Steve,
Just wanted to say thanks for DL. It's a welcome part of my day as it reminds me that I'm not the only one who sees that the spin of my pedals is linked to the whirl of the planets and the flow of subtle energy through my body--- or that how I sweep the floor or clean the corners of my garage is as big a part of my training as is the time I spend on my bike.
Throughout my life I regularly encounter the realization that what I consider to be everyday plain truths are thought by many to be far out bizarre notions. It's nice to know that someone is trying to bring a broader understanding of how fitness is merely one step along the path of growth to the world. Seems that every passing year leads me to my zafu more and more.
While I often say to myself, " Man, that Steve Ilg is so full of himself, what a knucklehead.", when I'm reading DL I immediately chuckle when I realize that I'm sure people have the same reaction to me when I quote Rumi while double digging my garden bed in a kilt. Gary Snyder points out in an essay of his that he is simply a part of a great subculture that has existed for close to forty thousand years--
"It seems evident that there are throughout the world certain social and religious forces that worked through history toward and ecologically and culturally enlightened state of affairs. Let these be encouraged; Gnostics, hip Marxists, Teilhard de Chardin Catholics, Druids, Taoists, Biologists, Witches, Yogins, Bhikkus, Quakers, Sufis, Tibetans, Zens, Shamans, Bushmen, American Indians, Polynesians, Anarchists, Alchemists-the list is long. "
He goes on to say, "...it would be best to consider this change a continuing "revolution of conciousness", which will be won not by guns but by seizing the key images, myths, archetypes, eschatologies, and ecstasies so that life won't seem worth living unless one's on the side of the transforming energy. "
Wholistic Fitness is doing it's part in helping people be on the side of transformation. I intend to sign up for your new online membership, if for no other reason than to support your work, and in turn aid in transformation. The many copies of your books I've given away were also a way to spread the good news.
In this time of ever more complex existence it's good to remember that the particular eddy we whirl in at the moment is part of a larger and deeper flow. This flow cannot be stopped and will lead to the sea. As The Waterboys sing, "That was the river, but this is the sea."
Beannocht,
Steven Blondeau
Winder, GA
" The iron tree blooms in the void."