By far the most common metaphor for a life is that of a journey. After all it has a beginning, middle and end. It appears to go through different terrain, run at different paces and our paths often cross. Sometimes we leave things behind. Sometimes we can’t. But we can confuse a metaphor with the thing we are describing or worse slip from metaphor to analogy. It is a mistake to assume that because we can describe life as a journey it actually is like a journey.
What if life is a piece of clay. In every moment we work it, pull a bit off, make it into a shape and place it down. Eventually the clay is used up but hasn’t gone away. It has been transformed. This can be a better way to comprehend life if we want to live mindfully. A journey has boring bits we want over. A journey can be passive. Sculpting clay is active. There is an opportunity at every moment to infuse it with love and care. There is no beginning or end, birth or death just transformation.
If a life is a lump of clay then we can commit to making something of it, producing objects in a series or to a certain theme, like Antony Gormley filling a room with wee people. That is what I’m planning here. Each day I walk to and from work. I can choose to do this differently. I can turn it into a series that has structure. I can ritualise it.
People tell me they don’t like ritual. Usually they say it on retreats when we have all got up stupidly early to chant and invite bells and bow a lot. But ritual is great if used as a means to an end. Morning and evening I brush my teeth. I shake hands with new people I meet. I say thank you and sorry automatically – without thinking it through. We fill our lives with little rituals that are means to ends. Just because I ritualistically say thank you doesn’t mean I’m not grateful but if I didn’t have that ritual I might forget to thank and I eventually forget to be grateful and then I’d be miserable.
What if I walked to work 200 times a year for the next decade and forgot to enjoy it? What a tragedy that would be! I therefore need to build a ritual that transforms that activity into something really special. I’m going to steal that ritual from the Marathon Monks of Mount Hiei in Japan.
Marathon Monk Posts by Date
- Marathon Monk: Back story
- Lay Pedestrian meets Marathon Monk
- Lay Pedestrian resolves to mug Marathon Monk
- Setting Off on Project Marathon Monk
- Marathon Monk Index
- Marathon Monk: June 2017 – 8 days & 48 mindful miles
- Marathon Monk and the Pointless Pole
- Marathon Monk: July 2017 – 22 days & 132 mindful miles
- Marathon Monk: August 2017 – 33 days & 198 mindful miles
- Marathon Monk: September 2017 – 47 days & 282 mindful miles
- Marathon Monk: October 2017 – 62 days & 372 mindful miles
- Marathon Monk: November 2017 – 78 days & 468 mindful miles
- Marathon Monk: December 2017 – 89 days & 534 mindful miles
- Marathon Monk: January 2018 – 97 days & 582 mindful miles
- Marathon Monk: February 2018 – 112 days & 672 mindful miles
- Marathon Monk: March 2018 – 125 days & 750 mindful miles
- Marathon Monk: April 2018 – 137 days & 822 mindful miles
- Marathon Monk: May 2018 – 152 days & 912 mindful miles
- Marathon Monk: June 2018 – 166 days & 996 mindful miles
- Marathon Monk: July 2018 – 182 days & 1,092 mindful miles
- Marathon Monk: August 2018 – 199 days & 1,194 mindful miles
- Marathon Monk: September 2018 – 217 days & 1,302 mindful miles
- Marathon Monk: October 2018 – 233 days & 1,398 mindful miles
- Marathon Monk: November 2018 – 248 days & 1,488 mindful miles
- Marathon Monk: December 2018 – 258 days & 1,548 mindful miles
- Marathon Monk: January to March 2019 – 281 days & 1,686 mindful miles
- Marathon Monk: April 2019 – 301 days & 1,806 mindful miles
- Marathon Monk: May & June 2019 – 323 days & 1,938 mindful miles
- Marathon Monk: July 2019 – 340 days & 2,040 mindful miles
- Marathon Monk: August 2019 – 358 days & 2,148 mindful miles
- Marathon Monk: September-November 2019 – 399 days & 2,394 mindful miles
- Marathon Monk: To 23rd March 2020 – 441 days & 2,646 mindful miles & into Covid-19 Lockdown