Armstrong And Us...

I felt the need to chime in about the Armstrong doping allegations of sorts, as I’ve been getting a good amount mail from friends about this topic…

Being a past competitive cyclist this notion is dear to me on several levels. It truly does pertain to all of our lives. And as some of you already know my position, I have no distain or negative judgment towards doping cyclists, Armstrong, et al.

It has come out (and to no surprise to me) that Lance Armstrong took performance-enhancing drugs according to USADA (a very reliable entity). He maintains his innocence but has confessed to resolve his situation with USADA.  He’ll be stripped of his Tour De France titles. He’ll be stripped of his reputation for helping people fight cancer (which I have seen first hand), as well as all he’s done for cancer research. And of course stripped of all good he’s done for the sport of cycling, and those around him.

For those of you who don’t know anything about cycling but the “drugs and cheating” here’s a quick lesson. A pack of 100+ riders rolls out onto a course of 100 miles or so. To stay in the pack is the key (the air draft). That means one must ride at the strength of the pack firstly to have any chance at winning. One must ride at the pace of the pack to simply have a job. It’s really quite simple. You can’t hang… you’re out!

The drug culture in cycling is no different than our everyday cultural morals. A high percentage of rider’s objective is to just keep their job, stay in the pack, and stay competitive- stay in a career you’ve been training for since childhood. How different is this to the thousands of ways we prostitute ourselves in our own careers to either keep our jobs, or get ahead? From cronyism to deceit for a job position, to false character- how different are any of us?

It seems the prospective of human culture is to destroy those who have succeeded by the very means we all have moralistically created and accepted. We are not going to clean up cycling by witch-hunts. We are not going to clean up our corrupt ways by isolating a few cheaters as to think it will put the rest of us in such a fear of our own moral degenerations that we all will start behaving angelical.

How do I feel about Lance? You’re as innocent as the rest of us. You were smarter and more cunning than those who created the culture in cycling before you. You grew up as trailer trash from a single mother and worked your way into the world’s sporting collective unconscious. You rode more intelligently than any rider in the past (yes including Eddie Merckx), and changed the sport’s approach forever. You fought and beat cancer, giving hopes to millions during this epidemic. You inspired fitness and wellbeing in so many. Above all you reminded us that nothing is impossible, and even with your own self inflated ambition you still provided so much to the rest of the world.

They say that what we dread in others is truly what we dread in ourselves. I ask myself, where am I “doping” in my life? We must find the areas where we are morally degenerate. We are no different than Lance, Clemens, Bonds, or Marion, as we produced them. It is only till we realize this notion that moral change can really occur in cycling and beyond.

Truly,

Don Peretz

Higgs

The Higgs Boson… Can you imagine the magnitude of this finding?  Like most people, including myself, probably not. Physicists are on the hunt for this tiny piece of a proton. What does finding a particle smaller than a Quark, which is smaller than a proton going to do for humanity? I too responded in a knee jerk manner feeling… “Why don’t scientific research efforts focus on Aids or Cancer?” But the Higgs is said to be the particle force that is responsible for the joining together of all matter. You know, the “thing” that connects everything? This is the exact notion that so many of us are unable to accept through streams of philosophy and religion. Well here you go existentialists! That includes me. In short this effort proves the sheer fact that through science true spirituality is found. The idea that it is not up to my preconceived notions that separation exists, but a scientific fact that there is no space in the universe, there is no you, no me, there just is. If I can truly understand that concept, imagine the possibilities? I for whatever reason find solace in facts beyond my understanding. It’s the idea that I must grow, and that what I see or feel is simply not the whole truth, if any truth at all really. What I feel can be so deeply is in cross with true nature. I must be ok with that… more than ok! In essence it is a true understanding of suffering and the ability for the human species to go beyond our suffering. It simply doesn’t end with us. Either way we will learn this, whether we make it to the next 30 years or not. I suppose that is why such a huge majority accepts Armageddon with bliss. But don’t you think it would be great to build on what we have than to scratch it all and start things over again? Be it as it may, starting over again might be inevitable, but I think we should be training our souls to sustain not scrap it all, since it is clear that sustain is what the universe does at any rate. There seems to be a split in humanity over this general objective. Should I divorce or fix the relationship? Should I change careers or persevere?  Does God want me here? Am I where I really want to be or should be? I suppose that is the question… Does one ever really accept where they are? And I mean truly accepting their place in the cosmos by loving the path that every experience breeds as a choice that can grow into beautiful things. Going back to the Higgs, this finding really makes the question of why unquestionable. We are connected and thus the life and universe. The Higgs Boson frauds the Nihilistic notion of meaninglessness in an understanding of oneness! It is simply our job as sentient beings to understand this truth, understanding well beyond us. I am thankful for this path. But are we willed and determined enough for this discovery? We must.

It can be complicated to find the simplicity...

It can be complicated to find the simplicity. It seems as the day rolls on the simplest task can be more frustrating than composing a novel or symphony. Why? What am I being told? What do I not understand? Nothing of course. That is the Buddhist answer not mine I admit. But just to get some flow in your everyday activity seems to be an impossible endeavor on somedays. Just to love thy neighbor seems like Mount Everest. Just to accept why the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. “Hell is other people” as Mr. Sartre says. Is it “them” who makes me feel this way? But I feel like I can have a complex in my cozy home robe, stuck in the house all day. And even that robe doesn’t seem cozy, as no warmth is found. Dumb it down a bit? Abide as “The Dude” says. Accept this world as it is and as I am a part of it. Like a limb of a tree I am. Very Yoda. And why do I resist this? Because I believe I must be in control! If I find out I am not, maybe all those churchgoers partying at Pizza Hut are right? God is in control so just give your self to Jesus! Maybe if their church services weren’t like high school football games, marching band and all, their message would have more of an affect on me. Nah, probably not. Let go. Let go of what? I’m not holding anything. At least I thought I wasn’t. Oh yes, now we find the transcendent discussion. There it is, the transcendence! Still, what the hell am I holding on to? My material self? I find letting go of that “me” is like letting go of half the story, no? One cannot leave the substance of a plot structure out to find the transcendence of a novel. Perhaps they are one in the same, like the material world and transcendent world Henry David found in the woods. I just must learn to see that one world through my senses. Local and non-local conscience as the same.