Commuting - Stealing your spirit

I remember a superstition in which some people believed that, if you took their snapshot, you would steal their spirit. Well, that's not too ridiculous after all, when it comes to modern machines.

Look at labor saving devices (such as, um, I don't know, say, the automobile?) that have freed us from hard work and drugery. Yet somehow, driving has stolen our spirits.

The spirit is tied into the body like ivy that wraps itself around a tree. The body needs to be used, or it deteriorates. What happens to the spirit as the body withers from disuse? Also, what happens as the mind (another inseparable part of us) loses the stimulation provided by the smell of fresh air and flowers, the sounds of nature and the alertness provided by a burgeoning blood supply circulating the brain?

I say, driving (and other mundane modern rituals) is stealing our spirits. Superstition?

Maybe.

I'm the original skeptic, but I think this concurs in some small ways:

In any serious study of a martial art, you begin by training the body. Difficult, backbreaking physical labor, day after day. It is only after you have honed the body into a tool fit for the greatest of artisans that you may similarly sculpt the mind.

My best work is done after a bike ride; I feel the best after the agony of a local fifteen-degree grade hill. Nothing of value comes without effort. :)

LittleBigMan,

hey you really amaze me - not the kind of attitude one would expect from Atlanta(you are from Atlanta, right?)... How do you deal with all the constant opposition? 100% car culture??

i don't think i could ever live in Texas again - maybe Austin, but Dallas or Houston would be such a challenge to my spirit -- and my cycling --- i had a hard time in Houston when everyone thought i was a real freak for riding my bike to downtown to my office (i mean people really thought i was mentally not there) and on the weekend everyone would go to the malls or generally stay inside and i was really alienated (ahh Portland was such a dream when i moved!)

i mean, stereotypes are only steroetypes and general rather than absolute, but even on this forum, the California, Northwest US (mostly Portland/Seattle), Northeast US, Canada, Australia, other foreign countries really tend to show a different attitude towards cars and roads and all than the US South/midwest...

of course i don't really know what others think, but usually when i read what you've written i think 'wow, how cool' but i think it's likely most of the people who live in your area would just think 'what a load of crap? is this guy for real?' or something probably less nicely worded...

of course, it would be great if others from the South/Midwest prove me wrong...

as i think i've said before, some time in the near future (30,50,80 years) i think people will look back on the world dominated by cars "auto years" and just shake their heads...

Pete,
Oh Philosopher Laureate of BikeForums, yet again you enlighten us with your wisdom. I have thought this myself but never quite put it together. Your wisdom, as usual, has shown me the way, the Way of the Spirit, as the Japanese might put it.

The many machines that make our lives "easier" DO steal our spirits some in ways that are not quite as insidious as others, but all do to some extent. I suppose an extreme fundamentalist could argue, though not in THIS venue, that even our beloved bicycles are guilty to a very small extent because they remove our feet from the ground. HOWEVER, we still use our own power to propel ourselves down the road (We ARE the engines!) so I would argue that the balance is still in favor of the spirit. If anything, the bicycle, to me, is a spirit-enhancing device, allowing the rider to experience something close to flying, while still exercising our own motive force.

On our bikes, we still feel the wind in our faces, sometimes cool and welcome on a hot summer day, sometimes cold and biting. We still feel the rain and other of nature's gifts. We revel in sights and sounds and smells that those in tin boxes never will. I know my spirit is stronger for being a cyclist. Even more so being, with you and others, a bicycle commuter. I sold my second car and would gladly go carfree, but I guess Rainbabe is not quite as enlightened.

Convenience machines and a throw-away mentality have robbed us of the ability to fill our own needs, grow our own food, take care of ourselves in emergencies. If we ever have a mega-disaster of any kind that truly disrupts our electrical system for any length of time, I shudder to think what our nation will become. Even poor Americans consider a car and a color TV to be entitlements while inhabitants of much of the world grow their own grain and grind it themselves by hand.

I often wonder if our affluence is more of a curse than a blessing. How many people do you know get up, go to work, go home, watch TV until they fall asleep, and repeat, day after day. Their spirits are still there, just misplaced. You and I and the other BikeForums members seem to have found ours again. Maybe we can help others over time.
Raymond

Originally posted by RainmanP
... but I guess Rainbabe is not quite as enlightened.


Have you suggested this to her recently?!

Ellie

Originally posted by Matadon
I'm the original skeptic, but I think this concurs in some small ways:

In any serious study of a martial art, you begin by training the body. Difficult, backbreaking physical labor, day after day. It is only after you have honed the body into a tool fit for the greatest of artisans that you may similarly sculpt the mind.

My best work is done after a bike ride; I feel the best after the agony of a local fifteen-degree grade hill. Nothing of value comes without effort. :)

What kind of work are you talking about?

Yes, I too feel great after a good day's workout, but I cannot sit down after that and solve a difficult calculus problem.

This is because my blood sugar is significantly lower and I lose the focus I need for mentally challenging labour, even after I have eaten. So I disagree that everybody should take on "breathtaking physcal labour" day after day.

I don't blame some people for their non-physical lifestyle, because I have been there myself. Somethings simply don't mix.

Originally posted by RainmanP

The many machines that make our lives "easier" DO steal our spirits some in ways that are not quite as insidious as others, but all do to some extent. I suppose an extreme fundamentalist could argue, though not in THIS venue, that even our beloved bicycles are guilty to a very small extent because they remove our feet from the ground. HOWEVER, we still use our own power to propel ourselves down the road (We ARE the engines!) so I would argue that the balance is still in favor of the spirit. If anything, the bicycle, to me, is a spirit-enhancing device, allowing the rider to experience something close to flying, while still exercising our own motive force.

On our bikes, we still feel the wind in our faces, sometimes cool and welcome on a hot summer day, sometimes cold and biting. We still feel the rain and other of nature's gifts. We revel in sights and sounds and smells that those in tin boxes never will. I know my spirit is stronger for being a cyclist. Even more so being, with you and others, a bicycle commuter. I sold my second car and would gladly go carfree, but I guess Rainbabe is not quite as enlightened.

Convenience machines and a throw-away mentality have robbed us of the ability to fill our own needs, grow our own food, take care of ourselves in emergencies. If we ever have a mega-disaster of any kind that truly disrupts our electrical system for any length of time, I shudder to think what our nation will become. Even poor Americans consider a car and a color TV to be entitlements while inhabitants of much of the world grow their own grain and grind it themselves by hand.

I often wonder if our affluence is more of a curse than a blessing. How many people do you know get up, go to work, go home, watch TV until they fall asleep, and repeat, day after day. Their spirits are still there, just misplaced. You and I and the other BikeForums members seem to have found ours again. Maybe we can help others over time.
Raymond

Well, as you said it yourself, bike themselves are pieces of technology. For instance take the space age materials the higher end ones. In fact, even though you may not see an engine, bikes are indeed one of the most elegant pieces of technology ever.

I dunno about technology "stealing" the human spirit. When I see a car, I see an impressive piece of machinary made to do away with human transportation difficulties.

When I see an airplane, I awe at the human ability. Technology IS part of the human spirit. Our will to shape the material world to our specific needs.

It's not the technology that has "robbed us" from our "ability to fill our own needs"... it's our own choices. Nothing else is to blame. Technology is there to help us reach our dreams and potentials, not pull us apart from "Way of the Spirit".

What holds us back are not machines, but the way we abuse them and the way we throw the blame right back at them.

"Hey look, the ozone layer is depleting! Damn this car, damn it! It drives by itself and somehow forces me to sit in it when I could have easily walked or biked the distance"

Hey, if anyone is looking for a new spirit, I've got some dandies for sale. I found a bunch of souls not in use and traded them for killer guitar riffs a few years back...:angel:

Technology is not bad. The way it's been implemented is often very bad.

On the positive side: lifesaving medicines, telephones, computers, improved farm production...

On the negative side: nuclear weapons, noisy airports, polluted cities (especially around freeways.)

Inventions can be marvelous (e.g., the bicycle,) or hazardous (e.g., petroleum-driven automobile.)

i agree that technology is not bad... it's how we choose to use it.

for instance, the 'time-saving' devices of the late 20th century like dishwasher, answering machine, cell phone, vacuum cleaner, email, pagers, etc. are all great as long as we don't just try and fit more crap into our days or stay connected to work 24 hours a day and make our lives super-stressful - i know people who are 100% connected all day every day and it doesn't look like fun or relaxing!

blind application of technology "because we can" or "just b/c it's new" is stupid but unfortunately also supported by our capitalist system.

technology, when applied in the 'right' ways is a beautiful thing - e.g. bicycles, email, this forum, curing cancer, etc.

but there is a danger of getting wrapped up in the technology itself --- like designing our lives around cars or builiding and stockpiling nuclear weapons just because we can...

but the smart and well-planned application of ever-improving technology is, i think, the only answer to mankind's continued existence on this planet...

but with cars, the technology and the companies that produce and support them are always pushing the technology (as they want to sell more and make more money) but it is up to 'our' choices to control the technology so that thousands of people are not killed by cars every year and kids are safe to walk in their neighborhoods or to school and neighborhoods are safe and pleasant for cycling less inundated with noise, pollution and danger from high-speed, impatient car-drivers - or so it should be...

OK, let's back up a second. I am not anti-automobile, anti-airplane, or anti-technology in general. I am amazed and awed at the sophistication and beauty human minds have conceived and implemented. These technologies do make our lives better when properly used.

I DO think that we have gradually abdicated some of our human spirit to technology and allowed it to control our lives. The automobile just happens to be the outstanding example. Allow me to briefly illustrate. Before the extensive availability of the automobile there were few large cities. People walked more and lived closer to where they worked. People knew their neighbors better. Over time, the automobile has led to urban sprawl. The automobile allowed people to move further from their worksite, but the trade off has been more time spent commuting. To afford the nice house in the suburbs, Mom had to go to work, "requiring" the purchase of a second car. Mom, who used to spend much of her time raising the kiddies now comes home exhausted after a day of work and commuting. Because she is generally still responsible for the homefront, she doesn't have much time for the kiddies, well, except carting them to dance lessons, piano lessons, little league soccer/baseball/football/basketball, etc., etc.., because Dad works at his "great" job until 7:00 at night.

Now before I start getting messages that 1) the Mom stuff is sexist and 2) you can't blame all of this on the automobile, let me state that I REALIZE THIS. But 1) the Mom stuff is still in fact the way things are and 2) overuse/abuse of the automobile certainly has something to do with the way things have become. We want more, More, MORE! We want it cheaper, Cheaper, CHEAPER! We want it faster, Faster, FASTER! Even if it means risking someone else's life, like that person on that damned bike up ahead. They ought to know better than to ride a bike on the streets so they deserve whatever they get for getting in my damned way. See where it leads?

Originally posted by Amir R. Pakdel




What kind of work are you talking about?



Yes, I too feel great after a good day's workout, but I cannot sit down after that and solve a difficult calculus problem.



This is because my blood sugar is significantly lower and I lose the focus I need for mentally challenging labour, even after I have eaten. So I disagree that everybody should take on "breathtaking physcal labour" day after day.



I don't blame some people for their non-physical lifestyle, because I have been there myself. Somethings simply don't mix.

I'm the opposite; if I don't get exercise for more than a day or two, my mind feels...slower, somehow. I'm much more efficient when I'm regularly lifting weights (which I just started again) and cycling.

Originally posted by Matadon
I'm the opposite; if I don't get exercise for more than a day or two, my mind feels...slower, somehow.
I don't want to be argumentative, but as long as I am not overdoing it with the exercise, cycling to work really gets me pumped up for the job. So I concur with Matadon, at least, as it applies to me personally.

Originally posted by nathank
for instance, the 'time-saving' devices of the late 20th century like dishwasher, answering machine, cell phone, vacuum cleaner, email, pagers, etc. are all great as long as we don't just try and fit more crap into our days or stay connected to work 24 hours a day and make our lives super-stressful - i know people who are 100% connected all day every day and it doesn't look like fun or relaxing!

I agree, since I have gotten a cell phone (a way to reach me anytime anywhere) I have disliked it ever since, simply because work can always reach me, which means they are more likely to call me in :p


Originally posted by RainmanP
overuse/abuse of the automobile certainly has something to do with the way things have become. We want more, More, MORE! We want it cheaper, Cheaper, CHEAPER! We want it faster, Faster, FASTER!

After reading your post Rainman, I got to thinking, no one has ever started a support group or rehab program for automobile abuse. A person can be a addicted to drugs alcohol even computers. Is it that far off to believe that people can also become addicted to cars, and therefore abuse is occuring. Add to the fact that not only can cars kill people, and they can be a risk to your health (i.e. smog) you would think millions of people would rise up against them like people did agisnt tobacco companies. so my question is why.

Originally posted by Matadon
I'm the opposite; if I don't get exercise for more than a day or two, my mind feels...slower, somehow.

me too... yeah OK, if i do a 6 hour exhausting ride maybe i'm a little drained, but my 30-35 minute morning commute gets my mind going...

if i don't ride or lift wieghts (1-3 times per week) or do anything physical for about 2 days running then i get really low on energy and often feel groggy - definitely not mentally sharp ---- for me exercise is as necessary as sleep to feeling good and at my best

Hi,

I was wondering just how someone could steal your SPRINT when after perusing the forum I realized that you meant spIRIt not spRINt.

I'll admit that the car who cut me off has ruined my spirits the last month, but I hope to be back on the bike soon. Just mounted my MTB on my trainer to at least get some stationary time again.

Sigh.

Be careful out there.
tt

What about the people in your life who seem to suck thelife out of you.
I have this one friend who lately I can only take like 2-3 hours of hanging with him, and then it becomes a chore. He's a riding buddy too, so it sucks sometimes to be around him, cause it just sucks the life out of me and I feel like I'm swimming against the tide to get away from him, like he's this NRG sucking blackhole or something.

Originally posted by naisme
What about the people in your life who seem to suck thelife out of you.
That used to be my story about bicycle commuting. It seemed almost everyone would discourage me from doing it.

But I'm still here! I wonder if it actually made me more stubborn...

:D