The Bikin' Fools

Enjoy it while you can

As we rocket through the years there is a sense, slight in some and total in others, that this ‘system’ isn’t working all that well. It is a great leap for the sleeping to wake up, smell the coffee and see that humankind has drifted off course. I come to this realization when I try to connect the dots of our living. The simplest question cannot be answered: Why is there so much suffering, poverty and war? Why do a few ‘lucky’ people get all of the resources and the rest get to "eat cake". (Cake by the way, isn’t what you think. It is the worst, most plain bread one can eat.)

For all of our lives and for hundreds of previous generations, the white types have had the notion that we deserve all of the worldly goods. And we act accordingly. The current conflict has little to do with routing out terrorism and a lot to do with control and domination of the world’s resources. The competitive model has been sold to us as ‘the way it is’. This course of living leaves a huge wake of death and destruction in its path and does little to actually improve the quality of life.

One must find a place in the mind to be truly objective. It takes great insight to get to a point of true objectivity. The rational, thinking mind will not likely arrive there (here). It takes an extraordinary situation to reveal the bigger picture of this life. The brink of death works. In that state one can flash back over this life and glean the importance of things. The new car isn’t usually on the list. The big ego isn’t on the list. What will be on this list is your relationship to life itself, the friendships, the family, the experiences of transcendence. These are of true value and not the fleeting, superficial aspects of our material lives.

Although it takes a sophisticated machine to get there, the experience is cycling can lead one to the watering hole of salvation. It can deliver a person from the ravages of this crazy time in which we live. The experience when taken to the (personal) extreme often produces a state of mind bordering on euphoria. Transcendence settles upon the troubled mind as the first soft, sweet rains of fall settle the dust. It is in that mode that one has a chance to see the truth of our life. The truth is that it is pretty screwed up with no seeming way out.

Most attempt to sandbag their lives with money. This works, sort of. Ironically, having money is better than not having money. However, this produces is a state of busy-ness and mental occupation that overrules any tendency to examine the life we lead. When impoverished, one has lots of time to observe the world. In that observation, the problems become evident and obvious. Yet with no resources, one can do very little to change things. So the system perpetuates itself despite its horrific inequalities. The greatest issue with a greed driven society is that we are affected by the suffering of others, though we are taught to be insensitive to that misery. We are told that it is their problem and not our own.

A human cannot be complete and joyful until they realize the inter-connected nature of all things on this blue/green spinning orb. As with meditation, yoga and other disciplines, cycling can be an avenue to the bigger picture. Mt. biking especially puts one in a natural setting and allows the participant to slowly blend into the scenery. Somewhere along the trail one may find a moment of bliss when all the dots connect. That picture is one of wholeness, sharing, caring and goodwill towards all.

Have a great ride, have a great life.