breathing

"The task of education, understood in a spiritual sense, is to bring the soul-spirit into harmony with the temporal body. Of all the relationships humans have to the physical world, the most important is breathing. " -Rudolph Stiener on Waldorf Education

It is the foundation of any spiritual based philosophy, breathing. It is the constant, vital bodily intake of the nurturing world; the very connection to life. Eating and drinking too, but they require a sense of the self, breathing is 'automatic'.

In studying fear/stress, a basic response is a swallowing of breathing which results in the "grips of fear" or the reactionary tendencies and fatigue of the over stressed. Breathing is physical as well as soulful, it s in many cases, meditative breathing is only therapy needed and a crucial element to long term health. In climbing, a night and day contrast exists between climbing with mindful breathing and typical thoughtless huffing. Thought too benefits greatly from deliberate breathing, in many cases reaching a conclusion that the subject itself is unworthy of much though if any; the present is far more deserving than the supposed details of this or that. Most things seem to be more of a distraction to living than a requisite, after some even breaths.

In writing poetry, or, prose rather, I find a purer form manifests. However, I must ask a question: In a free write, is it a main-line connection to ego, or the opposite? Does one remove the conscience from the path of the ego, allow it to run amuck and spew words of deeply rooted self satisfaction?For a long time I have thought the only way to something pure (free of the ego) was through free write; in the very moment of inspiration, like an animal, hungry for the food before him; no thought, just action.

In looking back, these products have provided the most satisfaction to me for I marvel at the tangible themes, plucked from the either. Pride kills in the mountains, and ego delivers us to the exact spot. I've never been pretentious in what I've climbed, only the manor in which I did; making my way safely, understanding the risks and being able to understand and teach the process. Writing is the opposite, I can;t Begin to say why free writing feels better and seems to yield a stronger emotional work, at least for me.

I don't know really whats to come of art, but it seems the more cerebral it becomes the better chance for corruption and coercion.