Here’s how the process goes
Today I want to relate a good story about how I try to understand complex problems while literally gasping for every single breath and trying not to break many bones. It relates to a good run I went had on July 27 of this year. I am not a runner, don’t put me on a treadmill, a track, or route me through the city. I don’t like it, I don’t want to do it. However, my absolute favourite exercise is trail running through nature on tough terrain. I’ll probably relay the intensity of the attraction in a future post I’ll tease two reasons now. First, running in nature means no cars, no bicycles, scant pedestrians, no cost of membership, no closing time. I am the type of person who moves to their own rhythm, terrible cliché withstanding, so there is an unencumbered freedom when running in nature. Secondly, running on tough terrain makes you really hone into every single step you take, lest you trip on a root, rock, slip on a hill, etc. You must acutely focus body and mind into one in order to perform in the trails, and what is really cool about that is you have the instincts and the physiology to actually do this well! Anyways, on July 27, I ventured out to a provincial park near my house to run a nice 13 1/4 km trek, you can see the results here https://www.strava.com/activities/1104479676.
On my mind that day were questions posed to me by one of my best friends, and fellow historians, about my foray into non-historical research. He asked me some really difficult questions. I found it even difficult to ask them in the first place, since we generally talk about historical and political topics, and these questions were philosophical and religious in nature. As my running picked up in the 2–5km stretch, I suddenly had a burst of inspiration in how to answer the questions. This was profound in a few ways, but most importantly in relation to a specific question. My friend wondered how I would relate scientific descriptions of our material reality with the subjective truths embedded in mythological and religious representation. Namely, where is the place for the idea of God given our sophisticated understanding of science and given those findings, why should there be any credence to the mythologies of the past. Reconcile science and religion, no problem and a fair and pointed question! Interestingly the portion of forest I ran through might have been used in Indigenous religious ceremonies thousands of years ago. There is even a mock longhouse built right at this moment in the track. As I glided through the forest in this ‘divined’ location, I had a great answer to this problem. Below I’ll post almost exactly what I came up with, so please take a look. The important point of this story is the importance of affect and motivation on what you want to achieve out of your exercise. The more consciously I’ve attempted to solve complex intellectual dilemmas, the more both my mind and body respond to the challenge. Also, the seeming unity of environment, affect, and physical toil produced the answer I was searching for. That is not to say exercise you way to a higher IQ or you will always find the answers you seek through pushups. Rather, it is to highlight the possibilities that lay open when one opens oneself to greater possibilities than imagined.
Here’s a little snip of my response to my friends great question. Hopefully it makes sense a little bit, but if not, it means I’ll just have to get back out onto the trails to sort it all out!
“Relating the idea of God and the impact of science the answer lies here. With regard to notions of mythological understanding, science has destroyed the sense that these stores are literally and objectively true as narratives to understand the objective world. They do not tell us what the world is made of and how it was created in a literal physical sense. However, these myths do not only operate on that level, but also on a psychological and moral level. The true purpose of the myths is not to describe what the world is, but how to act in the world. The present study merely adds scientific observation to the panoply of human tools needed to describe both the world as it is and how to act within it. It allows us to discard what we do not need anymore, but should not discard all of the knowledge contained within this narratives.”
