We are all evolving: each of us, personally and collectively, socially, economically, culturally, historically, along with all species, our planet Earth, our solar system, galaxy and universe, every particle, light, time and space, all knowledge and understanding. We are all flowing with the current of time, the river of progress, the inexorable sweep of evolution. We may have no idea where we have come from and no concept of where we are heading, but that we are evolving – somehow and towards some destination – is unquestionable.
Evolution implies a journey towards a goal. Thus, the notion of traveling, journeying, progressing – running – towards a goal is intrinsic to our very being.
Running, then, is not just a metaphor for life – running is life and life is running. Inwardly and spiritually, we are constantly running towards a goal whether we know it or not. Unless and until you can stop the wheel of evolution turning, meditation is running, and running is meditation.
Running is the simplest self-expression, the purest revelation, the most natural manifestation in the physical realm of our very essence, an eternal, unquenchable yearning for progress through self-transcendence. We were runners before we ever ran; we are runners while sleeping, standing and sitting still; we shall forever remain runners after all our running is done…
We are all runners, whether or not we call ourselves “runners”, and we are all meditators, whether or not we imagine ourselves as “meditators”: as we are running towards our ever-elusive goal, so are we meditating below the surface of life with every breath and step. On a deep, intuitive level, we love running, for to run is to be one with our most natural state of being. While running, we can be and become truly ourselves, the very definition of meditation.