(Video link here.) We didn’t know that skiing without snow is possible until we saw Candide Thovex soar down sheer rock faces, volcanos and grass covered mountains, through jungles, water, gravel, asphalt, dirt and leaves, along the slats of a wooden bridge, the sand dunes of a vast dessert, and the Great Wall of China. The magical, thrilling, curiously uplifting two minutes was filmed as an ad for Audi, to serve as a vibrant illustration of the tagline,
All conditions are perfect conditions.
Yikes! The appropriation of a perfectly good life principle by a car company.
So we went on the hunt for poetry that might add an unexpected view of Thovex’s mighty journey. We found it in the diminutive, great Little Zen Companion:
It loved to happen.
—Marcus Aurelius
One real world is enough.
—Santayana
Easy is right. Begin right
And you are easy.
Continue easy and you are right.
The right way to go easy
Is to forget the right way
And forget that the going is easy.—Chuang-tzu
Great Faith.
Great Doubt.
Great Effort.
—the three qualities necessary for training
If a man wishes to
be sure of the road he treads on,
he must close his eyes and
walk in the dark.—St. John of the Cross
Dear Sally.
I’ve been shoveling snow,
…for the most of today.
,…for the most of yesterday.
My neighbor greets me:
“Remember the skiiers!”
I am going over,
knock on his door,..!
and show him THIS.
“Remember the skiiers!”
thank you.
(p.s.: Happy new year!,…the ‘old one’ was also,…öK.)
Synchronicity in action!