The World Athletic Championships just finished in Eugene, Oregon, USA.
Here is a thoughtful story in The Guardian, UK daily newspaper today, on Sydney McLaughlin, the phenomenal US athlete, who broke a world record.
One section stood out revealing the Dharma – of the co-dependent arising of conditions and freedom linked to the world of athletics. Sydney comes across as a thoughtful young woman with a Catholic upbringing. She has the potential for depth of realisation. Does she have the support to know and appreciate the depth not bound to winning and losing and the figments of mind of others?
Here is the section written by journalist Jonathan Liew, who was named Sportswriter of the Year in 2021.
“The thing that traps you also sets you free. The thing that sets you free also traps you. The path that led Sydney to the start line at Eugene was not entirely of her choosing. Her talent she owes to God.
Her athletic genes she owes to her parents. Her technique and consistency she owes to her coaches. Her career and mission she owes to all of them. This is what she wants. This is what makes her happy. But she knows too that she is a project, a plan, a figment of the ambition of others.
So she runs. She runs faster and more perfectly than anyone who has ever run before her.”
Dear Sydney,
Enjoy your running. The journalist is spot on when he refers to the ‘figment of ambition of others.’ That is all it is. Winning and losing is another figment. Brush off any exaggeration of importance given to such figments, like brushing off a strang of hair on the shoulder. Know the freedom to run and know the freedom it cannot trap you. It requires a simple change in perception through a resolve. Love to Run. At some point in time, let the same love go to your next priority. Know the freedom to
love.
Love,
Christopher