A Mile's Journey

From the Foreword: The author of this chapbook, "A Mile's Journey," Richard Lem, is a gifted talent of many qualities, amongst them his benevolent silent service to the society in general and to the persons around him in particular. His role as a counselor, teacher, pianist, painter and artist, a developer of philosophical and ethical solutions of day to day life through the process of walking or running has benefitted a great number of his admirers. It shall not be redundant to mention that even at this sixty-second year of life he could complete a twenty-six mile marathon race; during his marathon run he thinks of philosophical ideas and meditates on mind and consciousness. Lord Gaivi'anga (15th Century A.D.) stated that meditation could be practiced in all circumstances of life such as eating, lying, sitting, walking, singing, etc. Mr. Lem, who practices meditation while physically running, says, "I have an image of something called consciousness . . . I have an image of life as a river moving across the wastelands heading for the ocean." Satadal Kargupta, 1996 (M.A., Ph.D. (Double) D. Litt., F.R.A.S (London), C.M.A.O.S. (USA)

From A Mile's Journey

At nine miles I begin to visualize that I'm a red balloon with helium. The balloon is soaring, riding the currents gently until it finally pops. The popping of the imaginary balloon brings an aura of serenity. It's analogous to the life cycle with its three stages - birth, existence, and death.

I usually run by myself. To make the ten or fifteen miles seem shorter, I often visualize myself as a bird, an animal or a cloud suspended between space and earth. I'll use the bird image on steep hills, the animal image on the flat and the cloud visualization when I'm loafing along. Sounds silly, but it works for me. It's much like primitive and contemporary man's passion for body decoration or clothes. The preoccupation with assuming another identity is well-recorded in man's history.

It's been just a little over an hour since I started running and my spirits have risen considerably. I'm kicking back and floating on a cloud as I start the tenth mile.

A Mile's Journey is illustrated with Richard Lem's drawings and includes a "Running Meditation Technique"

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A Mile's Journey
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