{"id":317,"date":"2008-11-25T05:40:24","date_gmt":"2008-11-25T10:40:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/?p=317"},"modified":"2008-12-14T13:35:46","modified_gmt":"2008-12-14T18:35:46","slug":"spirituality-a-running-definition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/2008\/spirituality-a-running-definition\/","title":{"rendered":"Spirituality: A Running Definition"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"A<\/a>

Image via Wikipedia<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

I had hoped we were ready to move past the point of defining terms and such, but I guess we had forgotten the most important term.\u00a0 This term is actually in title, no it isn’t running or art.\u00a0 Confused? Well it is actually in the series title – Spirituality<\/strong>.\u00a0 Keeping in mind that Warren Kay is a Christian, but is writing to a much broader audience I really liked his definition of spirituality.<\/p>\n

The way you live your life in light of your beliefs and values is what I call spirituality in a general sense.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This definition actually pulls together several elements of the definition provided by Webster<\/a>. It is simple and broadly applicable.\u00a0 Kay comments on the spiritual experience – making it clear that it doesn’t have to be dramatic like Paul’s conversion in Acts or the Angel speaking to Mohammed but that they are “far more common… and are usually something much more down to earth.”\u00a0 He says that a spiritual experience can be something as “simple as the appreciation of beauty and friendship.”\u00a0 Again I would agree with his ideas about the spiritual experience.<\/p>\n

Kay devotes several pages of Chapter Two to talking about reductionist points of view.\u00a0 He offers several arguments against reductionism<\/a>, including a running one. The thrust of his point is that reducing running to a simple biological activity takes away much of the experience itself.\u00a0 The runner’s high – simply a biological process.\u00a0 While the biology is accurate it does seem that there should be something more.\u00a0 I may be a little biased by my WASP point of view but I don’t want anything reduced simply to neurons and microbes.\u00a0 Every living thing was created for a purpose, every chemical reaction has a reason, including the runner’s high.<\/p>\n

Taking a look through history Kay claims that:<\/p>\n

Running has been an activity of necessity and enjoyment for thousands of years, and in a number of cultures, running has had a close association with spirituality and religion.<\/p>\n

I’ll assume these are correct.\u00a0 He claims that the Olympic Games<\/em> were originally created as a religious ceremony.\u00a0 He also talks about a group of Buddhist Monks in Japan called “Marathon Monks” who were swift and able runners taking on a 1,000 day running challenge<\/a>, which is quite extraordinary, as their ultimate spiritual prize.\u00a0 His final example come from the Lung-gom-pa runners of Tibet who often run 200 miles in a day and can run for 48-hours nonstop.\u00a0\u00a0 Either of those two groups would be quite amazing to see.<\/p>\n

His closing thoughts for this chapter are good so I’ll go ahead and quote them here:<\/p>\n

… running, unlike many other sports or human activities, doesn’t need external tools or devices: you have your body, and that’s all you need.<\/p>\n

Running encourages simplicity<\/em> – a principle that tends to foster spiritual growth.<\/p>\n

This, [simplicity] in turn, helps you experience a feeling of freedom<\/em> and joy<\/em> when you run, a feeling that is different from anything you experience through any other purely human activity.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I can’t agree with that last point enough.\u00a0 Whenever I slip off the watch and mp3 player and just go out for a run it can be a totally different experience than any other run. My run this past weekend <\/a>at the Louisville Swamp is a great example of one of these moments.<\/p>\n

[tags] Sacred Art, Running, Spiritual, Warren Kay [\/tags]<\/p>\n

\"Reblog<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I had hoped we were ready to move past the point of defining terms and such, but I guess we had forgotten the most important term.\u00a0 This term is actually in title, no it isn’t running or art.\u00a0 Confused? Well it is actually in the series title – Spirituality.\u00a0 Keeping in mind that Warren Kay […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[56,323],"tags":[91,138,334,75,314],"class_list":["post-317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-review","category-spiritual","tag-2008-summer-olympics","tag-china","tag-dalai-lama","tag-olympic-games","tag-religion-and-spirituality"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4iaAv-57","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":284,"url":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/2008\/foundations-of-a-spiritual-runner\/","url_meta":{"origin":317,"position":0},"title":"Foundations of a Spiritual Runner","author":"crossn81","date":"November 18, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"For the next few weeks I'm going to take an in depth look at a book I stumbled upon while on a \"Barnes and Nobles date\" with my wife. Running - the Sacred Art written by Warren Kay looked like an intriguing book that would capture my Christian spirituality and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Book Review"","block_context":{"text":"Book Review","link":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/category\/book-review\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=crossinator-20&l=ur2&o=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":481,"url":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/2008\/contemplating-while-running\/","url_meta":{"origin":317,"position":1},"title":"Contemplating While Running","author":"crossn81","date":"December 4, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"So you are out for your daily run and \"bam\" God decides to run alongside you.\u00a0 What would you talk about? Or you are running along and you see God cross the trail in front of you?\u00a0 While I don't think that would happen in a literal sense, I do\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Book Review"","block_context":{"text":"Book Review","link":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/category\/book-review\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"\/running\/images\/crashboats.jpg","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":851,"url":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/2008\/november-highlights-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":317,"position":2},"title":"November Highlights","author":"crossn81","date":"November 30, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Sign at hotel in Wynne, AK It is a little hard to believe that I am recapping November already.\u00a0 Last year at this time we were finalizing our decision to move to Minneapolis and beginning the process of saying goodbye.\u00a0 This year we are enjoying our life in Minneapolis, wondering\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Highlights"","block_context":{"text":"Highlights","link":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/category\/highlights\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"\/running\/images\/novembersignatwynne.jpg","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":760,"url":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/2008\/running-prayers\/","url_meta":{"origin":317,"position":3},"title":"Running Prayers","author":"crossn81","date":"December 18, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Image via Wikipedia I'm sure you've heard the old saying, \"There are no atheists in foxholes.\" (wikipedia) It is kind of a funny things to say, but the point is that under enemy fire even atheists are praying to a higher power.\u00a0 Continunig to go through Warren Kay's Spirituality of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Book Review"","block_context":{"text":"Book Review","link":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/category\/book-review\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"brush drawing on blue primed paper","src":"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/c\/c2\/Albrecht_D%C3%BCrer_Betende_H%C3%A4nde.jpg\/202px-Albrecht_D%C3%BCrer_Betende_H%C3%A4nde.jpg","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":765,"url":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/2009\/running-as-a-sacrament-what\/","url_meta":{"origin":317,"position":4},"title":"Running as a Sacrament – What?","author":"crossn81","date":"January 7, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Image via Wikipedia So far in this series on the spiritual side of running we've talked about a lot of issues that are pretty forthright.\u00a0 The next topic in Running the Sacred Art is a little harder to talk about because it has more theological underpinnings and isn't as widely\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Book Review"","block_context":{"text":"Book Review","link":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/category\/book-review\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Last Supper in Milan (1498), by Leonardo d...","src":"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/0\/08\/Leonardo_da_Vinci_%281452-1519%29_-_The_Last_Supper_%281495-1498%29.jpg\/202px-Leonardo_da_Vinci_%281452-1519%29_-_The_Last_Supper_%281495-1498%29.jpg","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1712,"url":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/2009\/tried-running\/","url_meta":{"origin":317,"position":5},"title":"Tried Running","author":"crossn81","date":"November 30, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"This week was a little disappointing as far as the foot goes.\u00a0 It had felt really good for a few days and then started hurting again.\u00a0 I had hoped to run on it at least once this weekend and start back up.\u00a0 I kept putting it off since it had\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "My Running"","block_context":{"text":"My Running","link":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/category\/my-running\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=317"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":922,"href":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317\/revisions\/922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}