The Visible Manifestation Of What Cannot Be Seen

What is born from movement is what the heart has cultivated in secret.

Last year was a year full of medals for my sister, Oana Fntnaru. Medal after medal, record after record, at every half marathon organized in the mountains of Romania. In the mirror of time, in everything I consider to be authentic performance, I saw how each path became an important chapter in Oana's existential journey. As if she were an architect of her own destiny, transforming obstacles into a kind of uplifting ritual, facilitating the transition from effort to art. It was so impressive, a trigger of pure emotions, to see her transform each step forward into a triumph of will, more than a simple victory. Hence the idea that perfection comes from total dedication .

Nothing compares to the sensation of absolute freedom. When the fog spread its mystical veil over the mountain peaks, Oana did not see this as an impediment, but an invitation to communion with the unknown. Her artistic soul, with a great pull towards eternal beauty, vibrated in the rhythm of the primordial harmony of the heights, in a perfect symbiosis with the forces of nature. It was as if each race had become an initiation ritual into the mysteries of the universe, beyond physical limits, by virtue of the principle according to which the spirit transcends matter. In the moments when the moments of respite whispered their temptations, when the muscles showed fatigue, her spirit seemed to rise like an eagle above the valleys, always searching for what was hidden beyond the horizon of the visible.

Of course, the sacred portal of the mountain opens only to those who, like Oana, have the courage to step beyond the common limits of conventions and certainties. In this context, Oana has proven so many times, through the splendor with which she surpasses her own limits, that every call of the mountain is an opportunity to learn about herself. And each route is a personal altar, a journey to the essence, where the finish line is nothing more than the beginning of a new spiritual experience called "Devotio Mornathis". In running, she has always found a way to communicate with nature, to fit perfectly into the landscape, transforming each competition into a symbolic odyssey, a story of resilience and beauty in motion.

Leadership: Can you approach a self-transcendence experience as a mind game, transforming it into a symbol of hidden knowledge?

As if plucked from the pages of Umberto Eco's novel, my sister approached the last mountain half marathon of 2024 with the same depth as the hero, Adso, trying to decipher the hidden mysteries of her own journey, as if each step were a symbol to decipher or an enigma to solve.

The smell of burnt parchment still hung in the air, enveloping the cold walls of the abbey. Adso bit his lips, troubled by the recent revelation, while William quietly gazed at the ruins of the library. The shadows of evening stretched over the flaking stones, and the silence seemed to weigh heavier than the unanswered questions.

"But how did you manage," said Adso with admiration, "to solve the mystery of the library by looking at it from the outside, and not understand it when you were inside?"

William smiled faintly, as if the whole charade had been nothing more than a mind game. His eyes now reflected not only a mastery of logic, but also a silent respect for the mysteries inaccessible to human reason.

- This is how God knows the world, because he conceived it in his head, as if from outside, before creating it. While we do not know its rule, because we live in it and find it ready-made.

Leadership: Can your focused gaze on details bring clarity to the whole, opening new perspectives beyond the illusion of the immediate concrete?

A close look at the details brings clarity to the whole when we see in the distance what escapes us up close. My sister managed to create a world according to the patterns of rhythm and inner order encountered along the way, even if she did not know the hidden rules of the road. The perspective from the outside revealed hidden truths that direct proximity overshadowed.

This is what it's really called being an artist: mastering the game of the mind during every challenge, finding that silent wisdom that makes you worthy of the secrets of a library.

Like the manuscripts of an ancient library, the mountain reveals its secrets only to those who know how to look beyond the illusion of the immediate concrete. In this silent dialogue between spirit and challenge, Oana discovered that true mastery lies in the ability to transform physical effort into a form of higher knowledge. That's right. A running artist does not run away from challenges, but invites them into his mental game, recognizing that the answers appear not in the linearity of reason, but in the labyrinthine mystery that surrounds him.

In a way, the library becomes the symbol of an open spirit, and running becomes the act of deciphering the sacred-profane duality, in the interpretation of a ritualistic and revelatory journey.

Leadership: Does your mind become free enough to question your own beliefs when you stop viewing limits as an absolute end?

I would say that the image of Oana, running on the mountain, does not reveal a closed world, but fixes a point, a situation in which physical effort merges with spirituality, the rhythm of her steps becoming part of a profound, almost magical whole. Each line drawn by her mountain path outlines, at the same time, an ordered, coherent work of art, which we can admire as an example of creative force, taken to the extreme. Like a wizard craftsman, she has taken on the most difficult challenges only to demonstrate that she can transcend seemingly impossible limits.

Obviously, higher knowledge resides in that perfect balance between effort and inspiration, which only an artist can use as a guide, following a divine model. And if the path traveled by Oana seems like an artistic itinerary, a spiritual journey towards something completely beyond time, then the knowledge that she transmits to thousands of admirers is, in fact, the living testimony of the transformation of effort into pure art, not just a lesson about courage, perseverance and self-improvement. After all, a true artist, like a top runner, is a tireless visionary who recognizes his higher calling by transforming every challenge into a living work of art.

The living work of art represents that profound manifestation of the balance between body, mind and spirit, in which each step forward becomes an authentic expression of the connection between man, nature and the universe.

The visible manifestation of the invisible amplifies the idea of spirituality in action, where the effort becomes a way of connecting with the divine energy from which the Mountain emanates. Each path hides a symbol, just as each library carries undeciphered secrets, and the runner deciphers in the rhythm of his steps the secret language of the mountain.

More than that. The symbol, conceived only in a context that dynamizes a certain aspect of the symbolic image that Oana projects to herself, can be used as a metaphor that illustrates the connection existing in the universe, between the rhythm of life and the spirit. Like a medieval scribe, the runner leaves traces that tell of an inner journey: "What is born from movement is what the heart has cultivated in secret."