The Pitiless Stone

The steam rose from his head.

"There is no fate that cannot be surmounted by scorn."

- Albert Camus

Reflecting

Odysseus encountered Sisyphus in book eleven of The Odyssey, sweating, steaming, and struggling beneath a pitiless stone. Sisyphus scorned the gods and defied death. If his fate was to be cautionary, it missed its mark. I find it inspiring. Stones are pitiless (in the same way that jungles are neutral and mountains don’t care). Good.

There is no awkward self-consciousness second guessing their intent. There is no intent. There is no irony, sarcasm, or innuendo to decode. There is no pity. But pity is usually fake, so there is usually none anyway. Better to skip false assurance. Don’t seek pity; seek strength.

Training

Today’s workout of the day was a partner WOD 80/60/40/20 cals on the bike with the other athlete in a hollow hold then 70 lbs. kettlebell swing with the partner holding plank. We did it in 18:47. Our transitions were pretty smooth. The biggest struggle was biking hard then getting into hollow hold while hyperventilating.

Today’s “no sweat” desk exercise included balancing on my indoor slackline; longer outdoor ones between trees are more fun but this a good compromise for at your desk.

Fueling

Good time to produce your own veggies / berries / eggs:

Supplementing

I’m trying to simplify my supplement stack and refocus on hydration. Since I avoid plastic as far as I can, I’ve been looking for water in glass or metal; my current favorite is Path.

Measuring

Feeling good but would like to get my estradiol up from here.

Recovering

Compression tights help blood flow to aid recovery time between workouts. I’ve been experimenting with different brands, most recently Stoko. They might be the best yet with adjustable wiring that helps keep joints better aligned for both performance and injury prevention. Scott Panchik wore them competing in Wodapalooza last month; he’s one of my favorite CrossFit elite athletes – just an all around winner of a man on every dimension – and is smart about recovery and still going strong competing at 35.

Closing

At any time between 1750 and 1930, if you asked educated people to describe the aim of poetry, art, or music, they would have replied 'beauty'. And, if you had asked for the point of that, you would have learned that beauty is a value, as important as truth and goodness.

Then, in the 20th century, beauty stopped being important. Art increasingly aimed to disturb and to break moral taboos. It was not beauty, but originality, however achieved, and at whatever moral cost, that won the prizes.

Not only has art made a cult of ugliness. Architecture too has become soulless and sterile. And it is not just our physical surroundings that have become ugly. Our language, our music, and our manners are increasingly raucous, self-centred, and offensive, as though beauty and good taste have no real place in our lives. One word is written large on all these ugly things, and that word is 'me': my profits, my desires, my pleasures. And art has nothing to say in response to this, except 'Yeah, go for it!'

I think we are losing beauty, and there is a danger that with it we will lose the meaning of life.

- Roger Scruton’s introduction to his hour-long documentary Why Beauty Matters. It is deeply profound about classicism and wickedly funny about modernity.

The androgynous, nihilistic cult of ugliness is exhausted. It is time for something else. Rays of hope are starting to cut through the world of art and architecture –

Jacob Collins, reviving classical painting

The Dreihaus Prize group at the Notre Dame School reviving classical architecture

Dana Gioia, author of The Angel with the Broken Wing, is reviving classical structure to poetry with rhyme, meter, and narrative.

Modernity’s cheap trick was that it was non-falsifiable. It wasn’t trying to be good, so it excused itself from being bad. It allowed its practitioners to get sloppy and atrophy when all they needed to do was to shock. That’s easy. The revivalists are doing the real work of reconnecting with classical structures, submitting to standards, and awaiting our judgment. And it’s hard work! It takes a lot more time, toil, and sustained focus.

The revivalists struggle to master their crafts with the real possibility of failure. When there are classical standards, not everything is art and not everyone can make it. Those that try are today’s risk takers. They serve and uplift their audience. The effort is pro-human, allowing regular people to appreciate their craft.

Beauty – like strength – is a virtue. Step one is to name it. Step two is to begin the arduous task of achieving it. We’re at the end of an era that tried to excuse ourselves from the effort. But it is over. Good riddance. There’s so much work for creators to do as we get back on track. Time to get about it.