There's nothing better than starting a training program with a long run in the pouring rain typical of our northern regions. In the end, running in the rain brings us back to the traditional asceticism of well-being through suffering. What if running were the advanced form of asceticism?
A brief historical overview
You don't have to go far and establish elucidations to link running and asceticism. Indeed, linguistically, the term descends from the Greek word ἄσκησις (áskēsis) meaning: exercise or training. This was taken up in Latin in the forms asceta and ascetria (fem.) to designate those who exercised their bodies and minds in the exercise of God, in other words monks and by extension monasteries.
In the Middle Ages, asceticism referred not only to the spiritual but also to the physical exercise that monks practiced on a daily basis. It is particularly associated with two forms of monasticism: eremitism and Gyrovagia. During the torpor and obscurantism of the High Middle Ages, many monks decided to withdraw from the world (anchorites or hermits) in wild places or to wander the world (gyrovagans). In short, these monks break away from society and its comforts. They put themselves in danger to be better at religious practice. They structure their days around prayer, meditation and, above all, physical exercise and mortification. Retreat or wandering is their asceticism. Through the difficulties inherent in such lives, they achieve a form of plenitude. By stepping out of their comfort zone, they experience a greater proximity to God.
Later, the word tended to be secularized to designate any form of discipline (religious, intellectual or philosophical) aimed at defining a "moral doctrine which prescribes the liberation of the body through the domination of instincts, pleasures and passions with a view to moral perfection"(http://www.cnrtl.fr/lexicographie/ascétisme). In this modern, philosophical definition, we return to the Greek principle of exercising and training the body. Moral perfection is achieved through domination and mastery of the body.
I'll end this little historical logorrhoea (historian by training, you can't do it over again ^^) by pointing out that I've only looked at the evolution of terms from the Western point of view, but the East also has strong ascetic disciplines in Islam and Judaism, as well as in the philosophies and religions of the Far East (e.g. the Buddhists and their spiritual retreats in the mountains).
Running as asceticism
This brings us back to running. When we go out every day, rain, shine or snow, to suffer for hours on end. During these long hours on the trails, we come to reflect on many things. Reflecting on ourselves, reflecting on the world and what surrounds us, we try to hold on to pleasant ideas in order to forget these legs that have been wanting to give up for many kilometers. Without realizing it, and even if our time isn't as good as the week before, we'll have trained something that requires us to get out of our comfort zone: the mind.
For any runner who dreams of one day running an ultra, I believe that mental training is CAPITAL. And to do this type of training, you have to put yourself at fault, you have to put yourself through suffering, you have to practice a form of ascetic mortification. For those of you like me who live in less clement latitudes (and the others too :p), we've all experienced that day when the training plan indicates a long outing or splits, but the windows of your house are covered by a curtain... of rain. Even before you take your first steps, you know you're in for a rough ride. You're going to be cold, your face blue with cold and your lips chapped by the gusting wind. Yet you slip on your runnings and head out the door. Running in all weathers becomes our daily asceticism.
During the session, there will often be that unhealthy thought that tries to assail you: "What the hell am I doing here when the fire is crackling at home? And every time it does, you'll chase it away with the crazy pride of wanting to finish the session or the competition. 2h, 3h, 4h... 8h... Tirelessly, you'll beat those dark thoughts to the finish line. Then happiness and pride will assail you, but there's no way you'll be able to keep them at bay.
You've just completed an ascetic exercise lasting several hours, and you're reaping the benefits. You've mastered your frustrations, your pain and your mind. You've stepped out of your comfort zone, and that's going to make you STRONGER. It's for all these reasons that I've always associated training and surpassing oneself with asceticism. Finally, isn't the runner the modern ascetic par excellence?
I really like the way you describe the link between asceticism and running.
Thank you very much!
Hi Julien,
Nice reflection, as often on this blog. The parallel is interesting, but it has a bias that bothers me. To compare running to a form of asceticism is to say that to train is to become desensitized, to get out of your comfort zone and stop feeling, since asceticism is precisely the domination of instincts, pleasures and passions (to use the definition you mention).
But in my opinion, there's another possible vision: running for a long time, fast (in relation to one's level, of course) and in difficult conditions has a "sensitizing" effect. An effect which makes the runner someone who is close to his sensations, in search of that information which makes him understand who he is, how he feels, and which doesn't prevent him from thinking - quite the contrary. Running brings him to life.
To put it mildly, from my point of view, the runner is perhaps not the ascetic of modern times, but the hedonist of our age.
Stéphane, first of all thank you for this little reflection! It's a pleasure to be able to chat like this on this kind of subject 😀 .
I disagree, because the hedonist seeks only happiness without suffering.
When I give this definition, there is clearly physical domination to achieve ataraxia, happiness and pleasure. But the latter is never sought for its own sake, but through an effort that precedes it.
The definition I gave - and I didn't go into detail so as not to "barber" the reader - was given by the philosophical humanists. They are imbued with religiosity. Their passions, the instincts in question, are to be taken in a pejorative sense. These are the famous behaviors that lead to vices.
In other words, it's all about ease... Instinct as an immediate impulse and passion as an unthinking element, which is absolutely uncharacteristic of running.
That's why I remain convinced that running is closer to asceticism and further from hedonism ;).
I had a hunch you shouldn't go there 😉
Agreed, but only half: hedonism = pleasure-seeking, certainly, but in a reasoned way. This means mastering oneself, including one's body, and physical exercise can be part of a hedonistic philosophy.
In saying that, I'm thinking that hedonism can only be conceived with a certain form of asceticism after all...
IF we haven't bombarded the comment readers with this, let's say we're off to a good start anyway!
I'm back from my rainy, windy and leg-painful morning outing! I've spent 45 minutes thinking, "What the hell am I doing here! But in the end, as I get out of the shower, my thoughts are: "How nice of me to go!" 🙂
Very nice article!
The article signed there is really! I think that, generally speaking, running is a sport that requires you to take a step back from the world. From this world that spins too fast, too much, without stopping. We have time to take a step back during these moments of retreat alone with ourselves, and to preserve them, we also have to make life choices that can be surprising.
Super interesting, my philosophy classes are too far back to be sure of the terms but I remember that we must beware of opposing schools of thought.
Indeed, hedonism and asceticism are complementary in their pursuit of happiness. It's only when taken to extremes by religious aims or vices that opposition arises. For balanced people, these will remain poles to which we feel more or less close.
One of the risks of asceticism is to cut ourselves off from our sensations, so to avoid this we need to cultivate our presence, attention and sensitivity to "sensations".
It's because running nourishes the ascetic, the conteplative, the jouissif and the "present" that it brings us so much throughout life.
We can run to flee, flee or find ourselves, reconnect with the world or cut ourselves off from it...
We don't have to prescribe what the thought accompanying the act of running should be, because it's purely potential and can condense into any form. So, behind the repetition of the act, the mind varies infinitely!
Hello Loïc, thank you for your comment.
However, I find it intellectually beside the point.
I don't oppose schools of thought because I'm not a philosopher. I take the term "Asceticism" in its historical form, i.e. in its practical application through eremitism and religious exercise.
I'm not talking about the "pursuit of happiness", or hedonism, I'm talking about running as a spiritual exercise. That's all ;).
I'm a historian, not a philosopher, although I've done a fair bit of work on the history of philosophy. So I'll stick to the facts. To the expression of asceticism in history and not to its philosophical aspect.
Kind regards,