Deadlifts and God

/fitlit/ question:

I finished reading a short article by James B. Rives on 'The Theology of Animal Sacrifice in the Ancient Greek World. He elaborates Porphyry's 'On Abstinence', who references 'a wise man' that one ought to worship the supreme god (of pure thought) with pure thought. This worship makes sense as one gives like to like. Importantly, however, I see myself as a Pantheist. If God is a physical reality, then worship ought to take place in a physical domain. I have an ethical imperative to worship with sacrifice, or some alternative physical means.
Since the /fitlit/ prank, I read Yukio Mishima's 'Sun and Steel' and I have adopted physical fitness to my life as an aspect of fleshing out the Beauty of existence as held by the Pantheistic reality I perceive (or, at least, wish to perceive). The question that asks itself is whether or not my gym excursions count as a form of worship? Does a certain element of mindfulness need to be adopted in parallel to the activity? Does anyone else in /fitlit/, from other faiths and creeds, see their physical actions as a form of worship or prayer? What do you do? What is the ideal?

Other urls found in this thread:

youtube.com/watch?v=JZB0WBCbcDA
twitter.com/SFWRedditGifs

Worship or no, what does pursuing physical fitness reveal? Consider the state of a man who does not train compared to a man who does train. A certain degree of discipline is directed by the person onto his own self. The reality of the power which designs is made apparent, both in the physical/mental domain (Action - Labour - Skillful means) and the domain of the will (Discipline - Perseverance - Cardinality)

What does any practice reveal about us TO us?

I have been doing strength training for a few months now, and would certainly agree that I see my work as having a spiritual element, however not as much as, say, my weekly excursion to church. Lifting, for me at least, comes to be a form of asceticism and work, in a pseudo-Benedictine tradition. By getting under a barbell and lifting, I am getting stronger to glorify God, building the temple that Saint Paul speaks of. It is also difficult, and I rely on a certain spiritual strength to get me through the lifts, even when I think a weight might be too much for me. In this way, I think that the work I do expands my spirituality and closeness to God, by getting under the barbell. To me, the Lord is my strength, my fortress, and my rock. He prepares my hands for battle and trains my fingers for war.

>>What does any practice reveal about us TO us?
being spooked by sensuality. only hedonists lift

also reminder that opinions, believes and other ideas are part of hedonism, only materialists-hedonists claim otherwise.

How much do you bench OP?

I only do calisthenics, is this pleb?

I too found /fitlit/ inspirational and began lifting at the beginning of the summer, but for me it's largely a vanity project. I've been unsatisfied with my appearance my entire life and this is my latest attempt at mitigation. It did do wonders for my mental health at first, but now that I'm a few months in I'm pretty much depressed at all moments beyond the hour or two succeeding a gym session.

Maybe I'll rent Mishima's beautiful death concept. Lord knows I've no reason to live or die on my own, might as well borrow a reason from someone I admire.

literally who cares about what qualifies as worship

trying to turn fitness into some new age religion fall upon you alone.

It's called the temple of Iron for a reason

Certainly. I've thought to myself that any man disciplined enough to read through the canon can be disciplined enough to get buff, and the buff as disciplined to read the canon. The issue is the motivation to do so. I am an undisciplined guy, but this exercise in exercise has certainly begun to remedy this aspect of myself.

This is the sort of post I wanted to read. I'm glad that you have this relation to fitness. Still, the Christian trust in God cannot be replicated in the Pantheist's mindset.

Not a hell of a lot. I'm one month in and. I can only do 105lbs x 5.

Etymologically, it's from the Greek meaning 'Beautiful Strength'. It counts. Just do more :)

I'm glad /fitlit/ got you too and that you've been able to untangle your soul a bit more. Do you mind elaborating on Mishama's Beautiful Death? If it's in SS, I must have overlooked it, or failed to remember it.

I'm not trying to turn it into a new age religion. I'm remarking upon its place in the world as parallel to the sensation of the religious.

I believe Sun & Steel referenced the concept, and I'm fairly sure Confessions of a Mask did. Basically the idea that he should live and die in accordance with aesthetic principles. Look into his attempted coup, which really just served as a pretext for his suicide, for his application of the concept. Part of it included striking himself down while in peak physical condition, I suppose to emphasize the strength and valor of imperial Japan yet its tragic inability to overcome its emaciated postwar condition, or something.

I've been meaning to read Confessions of a Mask, but its fairly down on the list. I could certainly subscribe to the ideal. I respect Mishma a lot for the attempted coup. Part of me wishes that it would have been successful.

>Part of it included striking himself down while in peak physical condition, I suppose to emphasize the strength and valor of imperial Japan yet its tragic inability to overcome its emaciated postwar condition.
Beautiful.

I've never heard that line. That's pretty cool.

Is Sun&Steel the only true /fitlit/erature?
Ever since I've stumbled upon it, I've been looking for more along the same lines but came up empty.

Anyone know of some good Veeky Forums on the topic?
Especially if it runs along the lines of phenomenology/Buddhism?

I'm so deprived, I've even started looking into yogic philosophy and martial arts stuff (like Takuan Soho). But nothing really hits as hard as Mishima.

I'm fitlit just because it feels good to be strong and feels good to be smart.
That's litetally all there is to it, stop being autistic.

1.5/2.5/3/4 pl8 x5

You'll never get real gains but it's better than nothing.

I have T1D, follow strict keto diet, do bodyweight training, science and stuff, some lit, some philosophy. The ideal is

is pic related.

I lift for girls

I'm in the same boat. It really look like Mishima is the only one. The best I found on the net was pic related.
Aside from an extra emphasis on Aurelius, I would add Spinoza, only because he's a pantheist, and Nietzsche, because he exalts health and strength - so may be Zarathustra? Genealogy? Will to Power? No clue, haven't worked my way through all of Nietzsche yet.

What is Veeky Forumss obsession with stoicism?
"Yes, this sounds vaguely like what I imagine men ought to be!"

I feel like once you get passed the whole stoicism vs hedonism meme, you're good to go.

This seems like a place to start from from a Buddhist/Mindfulness perspective:
youtube.com/watch?v=JZB0WBCbcDA
Anyone got something similar?

Gym exercise is masturbation not worship, don't be such an illiterate subhuman to confuse the two.

if people honestly believe in the "stoicism vs. hedonism meme" they dont know shit about stoicism. stoicism is about having your cake and eating it too, or enjoying the good times and rolling with the bad.

This is stupid. So you're going to negate the value of something because of your idea of "spooks?" That's a spook unto itself.

It's not even about the value of it either, it's the fact that the reality of a thing is only revealed to you until you "give into the spook," so to speak. Only then can you even begin to contemplate on meaning or lack thereof.

That's the point. Hedonism and stoicism is the same shit, different semantics.
The criticism they had of each other at the time boiled down to ad hominems. (Tho fairly accurate ones desu.)

This issue at hand, however, is that neither really require or directly inspire training or keeping your body healthy in any meaningful way.

Isn't there a way to argue for (physical) aesthetics without making a vanity project of it?
Isn't there a way to argue for physical strength without appealing to culturally loaded (gender) stereotypes?
Is it all just either "do it for yourself because nothing matters anyway" or "do it for your country!"?

Same issue. Anyone else want to chime in?

I guess not. I would be really interested in taking this to some peripheral site and continue the /fitlit/ conversation there and try to compile its aims and books which properly address it.

From the Gita, chapter 3:

Therefore do thy duty perfectly, without care for the results, for he who does his duty
disinterestedly attains the Supreme.

Therefore, surrendering thy actions unto Me, thy thoughts concentrated on the Absolute,
free from selfishness and without anticipation of reward, with mind devoid of excitement,
begin thou to fight.

Don't read so much into it. Mishima's coup was an empty gesture to relieve his conscience of the fact that his masculinity was fraudulent, and he faked tuberculosis to avoid fighting in when it mattered in ww2.

It could also be argued that what pushed him over the edge to get fit, was when his wife once (as banter) made fun of him at a club for being the smallest dude there. Apparently he was insanely offended (which he rarely was) and stormed off.

Still, I like his rationale better.

Ah, the Gita should definitely be on the /fitlit/ reading list.

While this statement has some validity, I think Mishima's coup grew out of a genuine consciousness developed out of fitness, which he turned to in order to relieve his initial conscience.

>Sacrifice
>Doing something tha you wanted to do anyway.
brainlet

are u dum?

Esctastic dance to induce trance also gets you fit as shit man. Exercise caution with whirling, you have to get the head snap right or you'll just pass out.

Think of it as 'rededication'

The wisdom of a sufi

>Ah, the Gita should definitely be on the /fitlit/ reading list.
Why? A bunch of yogic-ish stuff?

Speaking of which. I've been looking into literature on yoga. Seems quite /fitlit/.
Is there any good practical books? Hatha Yoga instructors here are quite pricey. Back at home I can visit an instructor from time to time. But not while at uni.

there's a great book of iyengar yoga by three siblings with full colour poses. (iyengar is a type of hatha) can't remember the name but it's pretty much the standard english one so google

found it /www.bookdepository.com/Yoga--the-Iyengar-Way/9780679722878

>/www.bookdepository.com/Yoga--the-Iyengar-Way/9780679722878
Ah, he was suggested to me before. There are newer versions as well. (At least in German)
Okay, will check this out.
Thanks