The Eyes See Only What The Mind Is Prepared To Understand

When you make a choice, make it so that you reconcile the mind with the soul, reason with wisdom, to find the way to your true SELF.

I’m having lunch with friends before the long-awaited mountain half marathon that will take place tomorrow. We cooked, we opened the bottle of wine, we enjoyed a meal together. The wine has had its effect, I am cheerful and lucid, as you can see. Tomorrow, waking up at 7 o’clock. Of course, we’ll be playing Catan until midnight.

But while everyone is waiting for tomorrow, and while tomorrow is left to wait, no one pays attention to the discovery that attracts the attention of one person: Myself. Everyone is waiting for a fight, a motivational form of self-affirmation, a competition that does not arouse any interest in me. My focus on getting a place on the podium, a fact adjacent to a whole that makes me strong and achieve what I set out to do, takes second place when the horizon does not see the reconciliation of the soul with the mind, the reconciliation with the fire of glory, with the start towards maturation, making the agreement between them.

So, together with my friends, I discovered a deeper meaning of life, not that of a winner, but that of “wonderful fulfillment”, that satisfaction that you feel when you are deeply connected to minds that despite any pragmatic calculation know how to preserve the cohesion of an already existing whole and individualizes it in relation to other groups. The joy I feel because I did not miss the chance to talk interesting things with my friends, is enormous.

Can you reconcile your soul with the possibility of insufficient motor experience, without feeling in retrospect the disappointment of having achieved a passing success?

On that quiet evening with my friends, before the day of the competition, I reflected better on the difference between a time of emotion and performance, and a time of transformation that comes from within my being. In the middle was that festive experience of an honest, lively, flexible sociability, that experience of a simple, restful happiness that completes the consciousness of a new beginning of the road.

Running is not the story of my destiny, it is not the effect of a predetermined destiny, but only a passion that accentuates feelings that warm the soul and give new powers. I think that the drive towards a better destiny must not be diverted by a momentary passion that in the long run leads nowhere, at least in terms of a lasting meaning of life that opens up countless possibilities. Even starting in a hurry in thoughts can be the disadvantage of the idea of individual destiny that does not share the destiny of others.

Is it not so? It is difficult to reconcile the soul with the mind, illusions with reality, destiny with one’s own conscience. And, more than that, I think it’s impossible to make good decisions when you have unrealistic expectations. I think that the way you live in your body, the way you reconcile your soul with the world are things that recommend you, much more than a title won by virtue of a competitive framework that wants to reach the landmarks of a passing success.

How do you define the time of becoming that your being goes through, in the sense of an individual path of the self that expands to a wider scope?

Relevant here is the fact that I discovered with a glass of wine a virtually impossible mission. It is the equivalent of the discovery that Alphonse Bertillon, assistant clerk at the Paris police headquarters, made in 1880. Profile and front photography of all people, to create a unique identity for each.

I allowed myself to believe that a glass of wine (Busuioacă de Bohotin) served with friends is like a kind of unforgettable photo. During tomorrow’s race, we’ll see each other again. We will not compete. And I think now, after dinner, I’ve already won the first battle.

I will no longer follow with interest the experiences of others on the mountain, not even mine. Running is a challenge, a photo that generates dynamism, tension. And, as a follower of exact thinking, I will not use a magnifying glass or any chemical reagent to judge the footprints of those around me.

I’ll do something else. To the amazement of the others, I will try not to arouse any interest in the competition tomorrow. My friends will remain unanswered. I will be a thief: I will give back what I am obliged to give. With all my imperfections, I will give back from the experience I gained, because I was not born learned either.

And my experience in running is a great discovery: a man who compares himself to others is always a man who confronts himself, without being able to stop what he is doing. He is no longer a free man; he is a prisoner of the ambition to be above all.

So, I will give back from what I do with pleasure. I will give back what passes, what is rightfully mine, what was offered to me by the nature of circumstances: I will give up the desire to be victorious. What will remain is the lived experience, the friendship between the runners.

Consequently, the time of becoming that my being will go through tomorrow could be defined as a chain of unitary sequences, a chain of small sketches with scenery, which I will be able to admire retrospectively as a story of full maturation, of assuming present and self-discovery.

A discoverer is a man who captures with his eyes a polished image of the soul: the moment when he puts others in the foreground, without remembering that he is a strong man, more plentiful and more powerful than all.

The Eyes See Only What The Mind Is Prepared To Understand when the important things you focus on are passed through the filter of lucidity and maturity, with the restraint of the ambition to push your limits and see yourself victorious.

The real winner is the runner who has understood that what matters most in a competition is to be at peace with yourself, to feel that you are with everyone else, rather than to be the center of their attention.