Cycling: is there a spiritual side to it?

[dorset boy]

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.

A good poo can be spiritual

 

[grantoury]

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.

I am not sure either. But there is more going on than just physical excercise, apparently.

 

[grantoury]

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

A real nugget. I will be mulling this over for weeks to come..

 

[dorset boy]

All human beings are drenched in insecurity about the very essence of their being, and it can be masked but it's still there. None of us have a clue. We make it up as we go along.

That's your head not mine

 

[grantoury]

A good poo can be spiritual

Now I know you are sabotaging this thread..

 

[MattiThundrrr]

We make it up as we go along.

Yup, we invent spirituality and religion to explain the things we don't comprehend. Then we invent science (another religion?) so we can pretend we're smarter than the gods we made.

You could let a dog run up and down the same field for its whole life and it'd be content. I wouldn't.

Some of the trails I ride, I have been riding for nearly thirty years. I'm still excited at the trailhead. Sometimes I want to explore the world, and when that dog gets to the fence, I'm sure it feels the same

PS I'm glad we can have this discussion civilly. Great group of people here

 

[dorset boy]

Someone once said we should not be in awe of what we think we know we should be in awe of what we don't know. I'm pretty basic ,i look at the night sky and it makes my brain hurt

 

[Guinessisgoodforyou]

Someone once said we should not be in awe of what we think we know we should be in awe of what we don't know. I'm pretty basic ,i look at the night sky and it makes my brain hurt

I think you are many things, basic is not one of them.

 

[CassidyAce]

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.

Good post. In all honesty, I think I have more of a problem with the modern world's dead concept of 'matter' than the concept of 'spirit' but ideas about 'matter' will change over time. They are already. That might help diminish the unhappy 'external being' that can mysteriously 'comprehend things so vividly' conception.

@grantoury I'm just finishing off Sheldrake's A New Science of Life at the moment. Sadly, I'm not especially impressed with that one. No idea what his other books are like.

 

[grantoury]

Good post. In all honesty, I think I have more of a problem with the modern world's dead concept of 'matter' than the concept of 'spirit' but ideas about 'matter' will change over time. They are already. That might help diminish the unhappy 'external being' that can mysteriously 'comprehend things so vividly' conception.

@grantoury I'm just finishing off Sheldrake's A New Science of Life at the moment. Sadly, I'm not especially impressed with that one. No idea what his other books are like.

That is the book on his theory of morphic resonance, the idea that plants have shared memory I think? Haven't read it, I started Science and spiritual practices which is my first. It fits more in my field of interest.