Without Limits

“All of my life, man and boy, I have operated under the assumption that the main idea in running was to win the damn race. Actually when I became a coach I, I tried to teach people how to do that. I tried to teach Pre(fontaine) how to do that. I tried like hell to teach Pre to do that. And Pre taught me, taught me I was wrong. Pre, you see, was troubled by knowing that a mediocre effort can win a race. And a magnificent effort can lose one. Winning a race wouldn't necessarily demand that you give it everything you have from start to finish. He never ran any other way. I tried to get him to. God knows, I tried. But Pre was stubborn. He insisted on holding himself to a higher standard than victory. A race is a work of art. That's what he said. That's what he believed. And he was out to make it one every step of the way. Of course, he wanted to win. Those who saw him compete and those who competed against him were never in any doubt about how much he wanted to win. But how he won mattered to him more. Pre thought I was a hard case. But he finally got it through my head that the real purpose of running isn't to win a race. It's to test the limits of the human heart. And that he did. Nobody did it more often. Nobody did it better.” - Coach Bill Bowerman on Steve Prefontaine in “Without Limits”(1998). Pre died in a car crash 1975. His records stand unbroken even to this day. He was only 24 years old.

These words mean so much. Not because, I share a love for running but in these, I found all the answers. And to have so found it, in a eulogy for a distance runner (that too, in a simple movie and not some clichéd self-help literature) was indeed pleasantly funny. The four insights pretty much sums up everything about life and the art of living it.

First, the Dilemma (1) A mediocre effort can win a race and a magnificent effort can lose one. A premise that seems to fundamentally oppose The Gita ’The end justifies the means’. Yes, the main idea is to win the damn race. There is no questioning the practicality of it, the cold bloodedness of Logic. But if so, why is it that we still feel unjustified, unsatisfied about it…an incompleteness or sense a violation of spirit.

The Underlying Principle (2) Hold oneself to a higher standard than victory Is there a standard higher than Victory?! The fundamental question again; are Means higher than End? Yes,...there are Immeasurable (standards) greater than victory. It is just that we cannot define nor capture them. Immeasurable(s), like the will, passion and values, all constitute another dimension. A man can be motivated to give up his life for them, making them priceless and undefeated. Yet, one can also buy them cheap from someone else who doesn’t give a damn about them as well. That’s what makes these intangibles beyond comprehension. A virtue’s value is thus dependent solely on the beholder’s perception. One cannot defeat or buy someone’s value without his permission. He might sell himself or choose to make it immeasurable by dying for it. When you elevate yourself or your worth thus…to the highest levels of existence, you near a perfection, a godliness… immortality and infinite greatness far greater in glory than victory.

Victory, one realizes, is essentially deterministic in concept. Someone has to win; hence, you define a quantifiable differentiator, such as, a time limit in a race. And in doing so, we step down to the realm of the measureable. But can any of the immeasurable(s) such as values, commitment, happiness be compared, let alone quantified. Senses (like sound) can probably be measured or compared but feelings(?). Homo Sapiens is not just about 1800 cc of cognition and logic but also, Humanity or Human-ness, an innate ability to sense and feel the immeasurable(s) dimensions, where measuring is a contradiction or denial. In fact, we look stupid, assuming ‘running’ to be quantifiable whereas poetry or anything Art is not!

The Truth (3) A race is a work of art. When do we call something, Art? Can Art be explained?  Yes, perhaps in negatives or esotericism. We find people equate it to Beauty, Love, Truth... Didn’t Robert Frost famously once warn ‘Poetry is what gets lost in translation”…But you nevertheless feel an inexplicable joy or meaning in them. Because, Art represents the finest form and refinement of a purpose, an intent and action. Any act, even a software design…when it nears the limits of perfection, that’s when, it begins to resemble you at your best…your finest expression of creativity, your finest moment of existence, the sole purpose of being alive. Every act or thought can become art…art then is nothing but the most meaningful expression of any action…not in just poetry or abstract painting but even ‘mundane’ running, cooking or say cold scientific pursuit…Michael Faraday, father of electromagnetism confessed “I am no poet, but if you think for yourselves, as I proceed, the facts will form a poem in your minds”

The Realization (4) Real purpose of running isn't to win a race. It's to test the limits of the human heart.  One often wonders why mankind continue to push limits of endurance or existence...climb the Everest, running 100 mile ultra-marathons or the other extreme, like Admiral Richard Byrd, spent 5 months alone in a shack in Antarctic @ -70^o C (and emerge convinced ‘Half the confusion in the world comes from not knowing how little we need’!)….because they find meaning in it. Doing something over and over perhaps ensures a comfort zone but boredom too…the Law of Diminishing Returns kicks in…Familiarity breeds not only contempt but kills the soul, the very essence of living…so while majority wilts away, some keep pushing the limits, to experience Life better…to feel alive. The truth is that, the real purpose of anything meaningful shall always remain beyond logical explanation. It can only be felt, never explained.

Even in a physically intensive disciple like long distance running, the moment one transgresses from the world of brain to that of heart, giving oneself up totally to the ‘purpose’…the essential Reality reveals itself…resulting in Immeasurable joy. Life’s purpose is felt in the Heart and not thought-through the Brain. Come to think of it, there is little wonder too; the heart knows much more than the brain…it developed its own ‘auto-rhythmic’ beating system much before…they say, the heart has over 40,000 neurons, its own independent nervous system…that’s where the Will, Passion and numerous Immeasurable originate and reside…reasoning and logic probably evolved much later.

Mathematician John Nash, in his acceptance speech for Nobel Prize, looks at his beloved Alicia and acknowledges ‘What truly is logic? Who decides reason? My quest has taken me to the physical, the metaphysical, the delusional, and back. I have made the most important discovery of my career - the most important discovery of my life. It is only in the mysterious equations of love that any logic or reasons can be found. I am only here tonight because of you…you are all my reasons’ - A Beautiful Mind’, 2001.

Why does Paulo Coelho and the amazing Alchemist appeal to us so much…

“Everyone believes the world's greatest lie..." says the mysterious old man.
"What is the world's greatest lie?" the little boy asks.
The old man replies, "It's this: that at a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what's happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate. That's the world's greatest lie.” 
― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

“The boy and his heart had become friends, and neither was capable now of betraying the other.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

“Well, then, why should I listen to my heart?"
"Because you will never again be able to keep it quiet.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

“Where your treasure is, there also will be your heart.” 
― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist