Re: What have you given up for climbing?
Posted: Mon Dec 06, 2010 4:45 am
The Chief wrote:
Do any of you really contemplate any of this while you are actually climbing?
Maybe everyone here needs to stop "philosophizing" this gig to shit and just go do it. Enjoy the moment for what it really is, not what one thinks it may be.
Being in the moment ("Now"), is allowing oneself to not think about anything. Rather, allowing all that is occurring, to do so, freely. All without any of ones perceptions to infect the real moment.
Climbing a prime example of a Zen moment. One dedicated to the Zen way knows that thinking and ones self imposed perceptions are not part of the process. They allow the moment to flow freely around them and within them. Absorbing what is real and not what one believes may be real.
Stop thinking so much boys and girls. You may just find that this climbing thing encompasses far more than asking if one is "giving up" anything to do so.
Rather, it becomes a part of ones life as are all the other entities that one chooses to partake in. It becomes part of ones learning process throughout their daily life.
Can there be both, or can both coexist? This is where my original argument comes in where I was calling out for a need to be more multifaceted and multidimensional, cus a climber/philosopher/(fashion designer) is more interesting than a climbing machine. It also draws on my second argument regarding needs, undoubtedly climbing will not satisfy ALL of our needs, hence, exercising the brain is good every once in a while. Trying to make sense of what we do, how we do it and why we do something serve as the building blocks for aspiration and eventual action, which without--there is no "in the moment" you speak of. Although all this talk and philosophy can be seen as brain masturbation-its not as satisfying as the 'real deal', aka going out there and doing shit, the reality is that our conscious experience consist of fluctuations: from exhilarating "in the moments" to silent reflection and subsequent motivation for further action. Beyond our specific time in history and mountaineering destinations there is a "bigger picture" and who knows that that means or entails.