Saturday, October 13, 2012

Getting Philosophical With Cerutty

Cerutty taught the necessity of staying relaxed while running and provided useful instruction on how to physically do so.In the following, which is a testament to his ability to think "out of the box," he provides some reasons for athletes not being relaxed.They are things that one would not usually consider but they should cause us to stop and think.If anything, the following is provocative.
"I go further,I hold that as long as people retain fixed prejudices,rigid ideas,and convictions,lack a sense of humour in their attitudes to themselves,their fellow men, and life in general,there must be,and will be,tensions which extend from the mind to the physical body and its movements.
So relaxation,in the last resort,if we would be perfect,depends upon,firstly,freeing the mind of all restrictive attitudes and beliefs,and adopting,if it is possible, the carefree(but not irresponsible) attitudes of the child,trusting in our instinctive likes and dislikes,responding to,and giving to others,kindnesses to others more than ourselves. In a word--living fully,freely,with as little restrictions upon our good impulses,in particular,as possible.
Never was it more truly said that to enter the athletic kingdom of heaven one must become as a little child."
Although Percy denied any allegiance to a particular faith,the last sentence from this excerpt is his rephrasing of a passage found in one of the Christian gospels.
It is an unfortunate occurrence that as we get older far too many of us become cynical and negative,we lose the innocence and enthusiam for life we had as youths. I believe this is why so many turn to other means to find happiness, such as adopting unhealthy habits like alcohol and drug use as well as the endless quest for entertainment and satiation. We must not forget to appreciate the "little things" in life,the things that most take for granted(family,health,etc.).

2 comments:


  1. Why is it when we age it seems to bring out the serious side of our personalities? In some ways we should be more carefree after suffering through the challenges of youth and as an adult starting a family, beginning a career, and facing so many challenges making ones' way in life. Cerutty was right and in some ways is similar to the Buddist philosophy of life... thanks for the post. Excellent topic and reminder.

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  2. Around the year 2000--I saw on ebay that they were trying to sell off Percy's library. His books were on a variety of subjects and I believe Buddhism was one of them. I remember the seller writing how the books had alot of comments,highlights and notes in them,oh how I wish I had the $300. or so dollars they were asking for them. Elliott said that Percy was voracious reader.

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