selah

“To the untrained eye ego-climbing and selfless climbing may appear identical. Both kind of climbers place one foot in front of the other. Both breathe in and out at the same rate. Both stop when tired. Both go forward when rested. But what a difference! The ego-climber is like an instrument that is out of adjustment. He put his foot down an instant to soon or too late. He’s likely to miss a beautiful passage of sunlight through the trees. He goes on when the sloppiness of his step shows he’s tired. He rests at odd times. He looks up the trail trying to see what’s ahead even when he knows what’s ahead because he just looked a second before. He goes too fast or too slow for the conditions and when he talks his talk is forever about somewhere else, something else. He’s here but he’s not here. He rejects the here, is unhappy with it, wants to be farther up the trail but when he gets there will be just as unhappy because then the it will be the ‘here.’ What he is looking for is all around him, but he doesn’t want that because it is all around him.  Every step is an effort both physically and spiritually because he imagines his goal to be external and distant.” ~ Robert M. Pirsig