Firstly, I am humbled by the reference to my blog by Mohit Satyanand, a man whom I consider to be one of my mentors. Quite a few readers of his blog subscribed to mine directly due to that reference and I am truly grateful to you all.
Secondly. he is right. I used the term ‘surrender’ when I perhaps, meant ‘radical acceptance’. I am referring to Buddhist teacher Tara Brach’s summation of dhyana which asks us to let go.
Radical acceptance is the best form of self-compassion.
Mohit’s blog is also a tribute to his wisdom that made him turn back. When people climb mountains, they succumb to what is known as ‘summit fever’. The desire to reach the summit despite the rules governing safety. For example, there are rules requiring mountaineers to turn back if they haven’t summited Everest (or any of the 8-fers) by a certain hour. The jet stream gets too intense and makes it unsafe to say at the red zone beyond a particular time. People who decide to summit because it “is right there” often end up dying.
Hence, one of the greatest mountaineers of all time, Ed Viesturs, writes in his superb book, ‘No shortcuts to the top’. that
“Getting to the top is optional. Getting down is mandatory.”
There’s a marvelous image of Viesturs nearly summiting Shishapangma. He gave up with about 100 metres to go. See this pic? Imagine the will it takes to let go.
Ed Viesturs believes he knows. He is one of the 44, the only American on the list. In 1993, climbing alone and without supplemental oxygen or ropes, Viesturs reached the “central summit” of Shishapangma, the world’s 14th-highest mountain. Most climbers turn around there, calling it good enough.
Before him was a narrow spine of about 100 meters, a knife-edge of corniced snow with drops to oblivion on both sides. At its end was the mountain’s true summit, a few meters higher in elevation than where he stood.
Too dangerous, Viesturs told himself. He retreated.
“You can let it go, or you can’t let it go,” Viesturs said. “And I was one of those guys where if the last nail in the deck hasn’t been hammered in, it’s not done.”1
I’ve noticed that the best athletes are monks. Carl Lewis was a follower of Sri Chinmoy. In contemporary (ha!) times, two of my idols are Deena Kastor is a JUBU (Jewish Buddhist) and Meb Keflezighi (Eriterian orthodox) very spiritual human beings who think of the larger context. Eliud Kipchoge is arguably a spiritual guru as much as he is a marathon champion. Here is Deena Kastor on radical acceptance.
Sports, in other words, is also a metaphor for life. Let your kids play team sports and learn how to live. How to withstand defeat and yet show character.
Ernest Hemingway is credited (perhaps, inaccurately) of writing; “Courage is grace under pressure.”
Perhaps, grace is the act of letting go, of radical acceptance of the fact that free will might not always win - though one cannot yet concede to determinism.
And being stoic in the face of reality. Like the violinists who played in the dying moments of the Titanic.
Grace under pressure.
What is a summit?, John Branch, New York Times, March 12, 2021