Cycling: is there a spiritual side to it?

Find it funny how the idea of a human spirit gets ridiculed yet the matter of 'human spirit' been very much at the heart of the human condition since paleolithic times. Way before the founding of exploitative Abrahamic religions.

To most people know the human spirit refers, as a sort of blanket statement, to our cognitive ability, our understanding of our own passions, desires, fears, hopes and dreams, all that jazz.
 
To most people know the human spirit refers, as a sort of blanket statement, to our cognitive ability, our understanding of our own passions, desires, fears, hopes and dreams, all that jazz
With a description that broad, pretty much any activity would be spiritual. Therefore, I would like to change my answer. I think about the surface I'm traveling on, understand my passion for steel tubes, desire better steel tubes, fear getting hit by cars when I ride my bike, hope I get in better shape, dream of being a better rider, so it's spiritual. Also think when I go to the bathroom, but I won't bore you with the list of why the toilet is spiritual. I had some spiritual spaghetti for lunch too.
 
Find it funny how the idea of a human spirit gets ridiculed yet the matter of 'human spirit' been very much at the heart of the human condition since paleolithic times. Way before the founding of exploitative Abrahamic religions.

To most people know the human spirit refers, as a sort of blanket statement, to our cognitive ability, our understanding of our own passions, desires, fears, hopes and dreams, all that jazz.
I never saw anything in the view that we are all machines and all our thoughts and desires are subjective. Lately I find it interesting.

If outside activity clears the mind and strengthens your mood, that is apparently a natural function where the body transforms the input into new energy and fresh mental fibres
 
With a description that broad, pretty much any activity would be spiritual. Therefore, I would like to change my answer. I think about the surface I'm traveling on, understand my passion for steel tubes, desire better steel tubes, fear getting hit by cars when I ride my bike, hope I get in better shape, dream of being a better rider, so it's spiritual. Also think when I go to the bathroom, but I won't bore you with the list of why the toilet is spiritual. I had some spiritual spaghetti for lunch too.
Well, it's not my description. But it's one that widely accepted. My own take is that our advanced cognition makes up what is 'being human'. Unlike animals we don't just do stuff 'because we like it', we have motives that go beyond instinctual needs/urges. We have a more complex thought process behind every action, and it is this advanced cognition that has led humans into the ultimate being of destruction, because we're totally and utterly incapable of grasping why we've evolved to the point we've evolved. We are utterly unhappy with the state of being, deep down, because we haven't the faintest clue why we can comprehend things so vividly, and there's no concreteness in the world around us that can explain.

Once again I feel that it misses the point when people go "Oh, spirituality, I like taking a shit and it feels good - is that spiritual then?". Sure, if you genuinely feel that you gain something, if you feel that it gives you a sense and a purpose, if it makes you feel at ease with your existence then sure. It's spiritual. To me, the spiritual would be anything that connects me to the world around me without feeling like a stranger in it. Without feeling like an external being. An abscess.

Also I find it funny when people say "Oh we just do stuff because we like it", right... I don't know about you guys but I'm not that instinctual. I think more than I do, and I spend most of my time thinking about what I do. I exercise not because I feel a strong urge deep down to do so, I do it because I've connected the dots between what sort of activity makes me feel good, and what I am capable of doing. You could let a dog run up and down the same field for its whole life and it'd be content. I wouldn't.
 
I never saw anything in the view that we are all machines and all our thoughts and desires are subjective. Lately I find it interesting.

If outside activity clears the mind and strengthens your mood, that is apparently a natural function where the body transforms the input into new energy and fresh mental fibres

Sometimes i can't even think of anything to think about when i'm out on my bike. I like that, but i'm not sure it's spiritual.
 

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