Pythagorean

I discovered today that I am a pythagorean. Pythagoras was known for his doctrines of the transmigration of souls and the music of the spheres, but what interested me was discovering that he used to go in for solitary hill-walking (not so much cycling), and a frugal way of living (possibly vegetarian). His walking was almost always done in the mornings, as Pythagoras thought it inadvisable to converse with anyone until he had gained inner serenity. He was a man who was aware of the danger of crowds, and of the mass hysteria that could be mustered up within one. In today's world, Pythagoras would be appalled at the 'crowding' of everything, from physical populations to social media, and he would be even more appalled at the fact that solitary walking (without the aid of pacifiers and placators) has almost been made extinct. No longer do people walk the hills with a view to becoming a better human being, but to show off their new clobber, and to cleanse their conscience for all that nonsense they eat. As far as this is concerned, modern hill-walking is as self-absorbed as staring into your phone. But not with Pythagoras. Here was a man who knew the far-ranging benefits of 'being on the move', and of igniting the bodymind through developing an intimate relationship with the land and Nature. Pythagoras believed that Nature liberated the body from the soul and allowed thereof a compassionate understanding of all things. This state of being 'dead in reality' is also taken up by Zen Buddhists who talk of being dead whilst still being alive: 'nirvana with a remainder' as they call it. It happens when you go into wild spaces devoid of noise and distortion. This, Pythagoras knew, that solitary hill-walking was a dialectic of becoming dead in order to become alive. Without this killing of the ego every morning, Pythagoras knew there was little chance of Reality ever emerging, and the masquerade would simply continue. 

The mask had to be torn off every morning, as it appeared to grow again every night as he slept.

And so, one can do a lot worse than follow a Pythagorean regimen: frugal, flowing, and ultimately fruitful. The trainer of souls they called him, and not without good reason.