Monday 4 August 2008

Conversation with Q

"Q I have been thinking about my recent all day bike ride and how it resembles in many ways a retreat"
"Boss that's interesting... tell me more."
"Well, you know people often ask me 'Don't you bored cycling all day?'. I don't. Well sometimes it get boring for a bit when the going is uphill and I am tired but otherwise no. I enjoy it some of the time. I get great ideas and solve my problems some of the time. Some of the time I am pretty mindless, in the moment, in the countryside, on my bike."
"OK some of that can be retreat-like especially if you were on a walking retreat.. but"
"But?"
"But, how does that make it spiritual?"
"Hmmm good question. It depends on what you mean by spiritual ("Good" - Q). For me the essence of a good retreat is being away from my usual life and worries with time to reflect on my life to remember who I am on a deeper level. That feels like spiritual to me at least with a small 's'.
"And with a large 'S'?"
"Well then I would want to bring in something explicitly spiritual via a prayer or a text."
"That gets interesting"
"Yes what would it be like to do that on my next day long bike trip?"
"Keep us posted"
"But of course!"

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