Look closely at someone in the gym. He lifts a barbell over and over, runs in place for a long time, pulls on a resistance band again and again.
The activity looks completely pointless. The barbell stays where it was. He hasn’t caught anyone. The band is exactly as it was.
To an ancient man, or even a Bushman, this would look absurd, not like work. But personally, I want this “nonsense” every day except Sunday.
Inside me, there is an abundance of meaning. Usually only after the workout. When I wake up, I’m ready to agree that going to the gym is complete nonsense.
In other words, efforts that look utterly pointless from the outside have a purpose, a benefit, a reason. It is hard for a modern person to find another equally accessible “remedy” that so radically improves his life.
A Bushman doesn’t need a gym: every day he carries something or runs after someone. We are more like astronauts, for whom life without exercise is disastrous. In zero gravity, muscles atrophy, followed by the brain.
We crave every action to be justified and understandable, to produce a quick result. But look back at your own life: how often did you realize the benefit of a step only many years later?
For example, it often takes me 20 to 40 years to understand why I really did this or that. More precisely, like a blind and hungry kitten, I crawled toward the smell of food.
Many decisions and actions, especially those that led to failure, seemed foolish to me at the time, but now I nod knowingly: “Exactly right! It couldn’t have been any other way! Without that -A, there would have been no A, B, or C.”
I want to learn to be grateful not in hindsight, but in advance.
Sincerely yours,
-Alexander
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