dead end of evolution

Some of the words I've quoted recently have been from a book by a fifty-something year old Haruki Murakami, "What I talk about when I talk about running".

It's about Murakami himself, his life, and what it means, in general, for an imperfect human with limitations, to age.  I'm not exactly a fan of Murakami but I can see why he has worldwide fanatic fans.  He's obviously good with words and has a smart and humorous writing style.  His metaphors can be sharp and nostalgic and fresh.  It didn't change when he wrote about himself and his aging, a topic I guess most people wouldn't necessarily enjoy talking about.

I think as I run, that if my time doesn't get better, there's nothing I can do about it.  I got old, and time takes what it takes.  It's nobody's fault.  Every game has its rule.  It's the same as how the river continues to flow into the ocean.  There is nothing you can do but to accept yourself as part of the natural scene.  It may not be an enjoyable task.  You might not feel glad to find what you find.  But there is nothing we can do.  I have enjoyed my life -- maybe not enough but in my own good time. (38)

1. Life has its order of priority.  You have to decide how you're going to divide and distribute your time an energy.  Without that system, your life loses focus.  (58)

2. The most important thing we learn at school is the truth that we can't learn what is most important at school.  (67)

3. Some processes do not accept change.  If we have to live with it, all we can do is to change ourselves through obsessive repetition and take the process into ourselves as part of our character.  (95)

4. If you quit just because you're "busy", you're never going to do it.  There are always only a few reasons to continue while there are a truckful to quit.  All we can do is to brush up those few reasons with great love.  Find time and brush away.  (102)

5. The essence of running is to burn yourself as effectively as possible within your limitations.  It's the same with life.  (115)

6. We always blame everything on global warming.  We're always in need of a certain villain that we can put the blame on.  (190)

7.  Our shortcomings and defects are countless.  But there must be *some* merits.  We have to survive with what we have because that's all we have.  (209etc.)

8. When you switch from swimming to cycling in a triathlon race, it feels like you're a salamander evolving to become an ostrich.  (226)

9. If there was no pain, no one would run a marathon.  It's the pain -- the process of overcoming the pain -- that gives us a solid realization that we're alive.  (230)

10. If what we're doing is useless and empty, there's nothing we can do.  If what we're doing is as vain as pouring water into a bucket with a hole, the fact that we did put in some kind of effort still remains.  And truly important things can be found only through inefficient tasks.  Empty actions are not stupid actions. (231)

I recognize that I'm only a tiny piece of a large mosaic called nature.  Just like the water of the river, I'm only part of a replaceable natural phenomenon that passes under the bridge heading for the ocean.  (125)

(Nonetheless,) I will run another full marathon in the winter and another triathlon race next summer.  Seasons will change, time will pass, I will grow another year older, and write another novel.  I will take the task that's in front of me and manage it one by one.  I will concentrate on every stride.  And at the same time, I will look at the far away scenery.  Because that is what a long-distance runner does.  I will do what I can and bear what I can to satisfy myself in my own way.  (232)