Explainable haze pt.2
So, a few days ago I wrote about finding god. Assuming you've read it, I'm not going to explain again what 'god' is to me in this context. The first place I've mentioned is finding god in the battlefield. Or again, for non military types it could mean school, church, family, workplace, or in any social arena. This could also mean battles within race or gender. I guess it doesn't really have to be a battle per say, but more so a level of interaction that we have with other human beings as souls.
Tonight I'll talk about another avenue that I feel we can find god. I relate it to finding it in the gym. I say something simple like that because its easy to explain. Not that everyone participates in physical fitness, but hopefully it can be understood because of the commonality. I'm no body builder by any means, but I've thought about this since the last five months or so I've committed nearly every day in the gym. Lately I've backed off for reasons I'll discuss later. Whether its the gym, running on the road, bicycling or even something that has nothing to to with physical activity, there's times in our lives when it's between us and god. No one else. When I get myself mentally pumped for a workout, I focus on nothing but my soul, the connection to my physical body and the limits that I push it to. I find that I don't push myself hard enough and I hate it. The battle is truly between myself and my self imposed limits.
Not even in the gym, when I find a way to break through these limits I find out things that I never imagined before. It's this 'god' thing I'm talking about. I realize who I am and what I am really made of. Now I've done some random things in my life to push my limits but only a few times have I truly found the edge. It's beyond tears and pain. You realize that your body won't break itself and its capable of much more than we think. The bigger realization is that when we approach certain things in life, it's not about anyone else.
I don't believe that we are solitary beings. Our quality of existence relies not only on our interpretation and acceptance of things, but also that of other people. Before allowing myself to rant about the influence of other people, I'm going to try and stay focused on our souls within. My soul within. Though physical trials have brought me closer to a realization, so has the solace in solitude. It has become an important part of my life that I had otherwise taken advantage of until this past year. Allowing myself to be alone was a struggle a long time ago. Not that I was an overly social person, but I didn't like the idea of being alone with myself. I knew that coming back to school was going to be a culture shock. What I should have prepared myself for is not having my own quiet time. I don't have a peaceful home to come to at night and there's not many places I can go to get away from obnoxious commotion.
There's a slight reason I mentioned being around certain situations in this topic. I don't have many things around me that I can use to push my limits. Working out gets old and back alley fights just don't cut the mustard. I lose the desire to enrich my own life when there is little support structure. This is partially a motivation for starting this blog. The lack of consideration I receive in my everyday life is in a way my pseudo-gym. How much endurance do I have before I snap? When you're in a gym, you don't kindly ask the weights to lift themselves. You put them in their place. We find ways to destroy our demons within. Well, being around humans is a little more dynamic than a set of dumbbells. (I actually beg to differ to myself after re-reading that last sentence). This is the connection I find between finding god within yourself and finding god in the battlefield. You push yourself when you can for yourself, and you accept that others will push you when they can. But really, it's not a fault of the others. It's simply them living their life for themselves. Generally being adversely influenced by others actions is an unfortunate coincidence of being in the wake of their own life path. That is why I generally strive to leave people alone and move along when I can. What's more important to me right now is not the battlefield with others, but the struggle within myself. A cliché quote I like is 'How others treat you is their karma. How you react is yours.' Just like the guy who robbed me years ago. Though he put my life into a dark place because of his desire for money, my survival depended on how I handled myself with no help from anyone else. He is a scumbag but I can't fault him beyond what I know of him. I'm quite positive my actions have affected people's lives in adverse ways. Maybe not as violent as the robber did mine.
If there would be any persuasion I could give to someone, it would be to find ways to look within yourself for answers. You may not figure out the purpose of the universe, but you may end up figuring the worth you have while playing your part.
One of my favorite topics on finding god is in the bedroom. I know I was supposed to write about that one but this one popped out today. That one will come soon.