A Moment of Reflection on the Spheres of Biking
By Paolo Volpara OMM 2008
Quite surprising the quality and quantity of the letters I received as a reaction to the last bulletin: the esoteric teaching of biking generated more comments and questions than any other subject covered in the Bulletin in the last nine years. Which is great. But not so good.
I was planning to move in this issue to the third sphere of biking: the response-ability, instead I am obliged to take a pause to explain: to explain the sphere concept and to explain the interaction of the first two discussed in January and February issues (Abandonment and Presence).
I use the concept of sphere in the etymological sense: from Latin sphaera, from Greek sphaira, literally, ball. (1): the apparent surface of the heavens of which half forms the dome of the visible sky… (5) Natural, normal, or proper place. (6) An area or range over or within which someone or something acts, exists, or has influence or significance.
Contemplating the constant modification and death of the reality that surround us, being able to abandon all possession including life creates a sphere, an area within which one acts, exists, has influence and significance.
This is the first sphere of the biker, the space where all he does assumes a new meaning. Am I preaching “risk taking”? Do I praise a “wish for death”?
This was not my intention: being ready to abandon does not mean wanting to abandon. Risk taking comes from another source, not from this sphere of biking. Risk taking, for the sake of risk taking, is the sport of those bikers (especially new born bikers) that search for a brief-two-hours-long remedy to the frustrations that they submit themselves to during the week. “I ride to feel free, to get rid of stress”: this is the vain risk-taking reserved to people who have little sympathy for biking.
Mark Barnes, in an article published by Motorcycle Consumer News (the most intelligent publication for bikers in the entire galaxy www.mcnews.com), compares risk taking in financial investment with risks taking while biking - “Many of us want to beat the odds, which are unbeatable over time. The experience of "getting away with something" adds a sense of invincibility to the simpler joy of mastering the immediate situation. The higher the stakes, the greater the rush, the more satisfying the climactic release of tension, and the more indestructible the self-image. This last part is key. To whatever extent we have felt defeated, inadequate and powerless in our lives, we will be compelled to reverse those feelings with heroic accomplishments. Such compensatory achievements may exist only in fantasy, they may result from genuinely admirable endeavors, or they may take the form of tempting fate and proving our strength by surviving the ordeal. A sense of inner deadness can be momentarily replaced by a rush of vitality, provoked by danger. So, when I embark on a motorcycling adventure (or a day trade), it's important for me to wonder about my motives. Am I trying to offset some negative feeling with a burst of excitement? What is it likely to cost me? Is it worth the risk? Or might I need to manage my emotional equilibrium some other way? And what about those times when I get in over my head and things turn against me? The chances of a happy ending have all but vanished, the dark clouds of loss, regret and self-reproach are gathering, and I'm about to end up with confirmations of my limitations and foolishness instead of that sense of invulnerability. Can I remember in that moment how I'm driven to make rash decisions in (unrealistic) hopes of rescuing my self-esteem, with the most likely outcome being even greater shame or worse? If I persist in a failing trade to prove I'm right and Wall Street is wrong, I will probably lose money. If I press on through severe weather during a ride in the mountains, or act on angry impulses in traffic, I could lose my life. If I make decisions while high on stress hormones that can make me overconfident, or at least hyper focused on some detail (the downside of that heightened alertness), my probability of losing increases dramatically. In order to change the outcome, we must first notice the process. Then it's up to us to deliberately back out of the thrill cycle and return to life as a mere mortal. Doing so can have a beneficial effect on our life-expectancy”
In order to change the outcome, we must first notice the process… how right. I am free and in this sphere of abandonment, among other think, I bike.
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