C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

      One of the best known of the Desert Fathers of fourth-century Egypt, St Sarapion the Sindonite, travelled once on pilgrimage to Rome. Here he was told of a celebrated recluse, a woman who lived always in one small room, never going out. Skeptical about her way of life—for he was himself a great wanderer—Sarapion called on her and asked: “Why are you sitting here?” To this she replied: “I am not sitting, I am on a journey”.        I am not sitting, I am on a journey. Every Christian may apply these words to himself or herself. To be a Christian is to be a traveller. Our situation, say the Greek Fathers, is like that of the Israelite people in the desert of Sinai: we live in tents, not houses, for spiritually we are always on the move. We are on a journey through the inward space of the heart, a journey not measured by the hours of our watch or the days of the calendar, for it is a journey out of time into eternity. *  ...

  Eastern Martial Arts Philosophy for Western Lifters and Bodybuilders      In the past, I’ve written various “philosophy for lifters” pieces, but I haven’t done so in some time.  (In fact, I wrote a series called “ Epictetus Pumps Iron ” if you’re interested in the intersection of Greek, and later Roman, Stoic philosophy and training.)  I do write some budo pieces on occasion that deal with, primarily, the intersection of Japanese philosophy and the traditional Japanese martial ways.  However, since I get way more views for my classic bodybuilding and old-school strength training pieces, I thought it might be a good idea to write an essay on how lifters (bodybuilders, powerlifters, Crossfit athletes, et al) can benefit from the philosophy of budo.      If you’re not familiar with budo , it’s a Japanese term that, literally translated, means “martial way” or “military way.”  The word is a compound of the word b...