Equinox & Flux

So do flux and reflux—the rhythm of change—alternate and persist in everything under the sky.
― Thomas Hardy

On the eve of the fall Equinox with equal day and equal night, the light and darkness tease us with choice. Will the certainty of uncertainty or the flow of natural flux—surrender or reign? Will the god of orbs give us a second chance? Will the facets of our fortunes blend, bleed or exceed our expectations? Would that I could summon earth, water, fire, air & space in a single vision—handle it like candlelight—and stabilize the vertigo. Perform an intervention on human hubris.

No human is limited.
—Eliud Kipchoge

In search of inspiration in the weeks leading up to the Equinox (a time of transition) I stumbled on The Last Milestone, the new documentary of Eliud Kipchoge considered the greatest marathoner of all time. Winner of two Olympic gold medals (one in Rio in 2016 and one in the sizzling heat of Tokyo last month), he set the world record with a time of 2:01:39 at the 2018 Berlin Marathon breaking the previous world record by 1 minute and 18 seconds. But on October 12, 2019, Kipchoge became the first human in history to run a sub-two-hour marathon as part of the INEOS 1:59 Challenge. Aided by a team of pacemakers, a strategically engineered environment (and his Nike carbon-fiber-plated super shoes), the ascetic Kenyan recorded a daunting time of 1:59:40 at a special event in Vienna. When asked by a journalist if he even felt pain like the rest of us, Kipchoge replied, “Absolutely. I am human, like everyone in this world. But I have a goal with pain. I try to control my brain and tell myself, listen: where the pain increases, that is where the success is.”

Steeped in this feat of endurance Zen, the epiphany startles me (and hopefully you) into a more urgent reality. What the hell? I waste so much time!

We have made clocks that are perfectly in sync with the industrial machinery and the Information Age and perfectly out of sync with nature and our circadian rhythm.
― Khang Kijarro Nguyen

For those of us with a circadian rhythm that favors the night, the Autumnal Equinox (Equi/equal nox/night) presents us with the gold when the Sun crosses the celestial equator on September 22 @ 12:21 pm PDT. An auspicious time to balance & reset—to nestle in the nocturnal.

During this elegant transition of day and night, Earth and Sun will choreograph the changeover with the precision of a Cirque de Soleil high wire act. At least for now, this harmonious phenomenon reassures us of the planet’s continuance in spite of dire warnings re: the escalating effects of climate change, never mind the tsunami of Breaking News—all linked to human hubris.

So with humility, let’s celebrate the knowing tilt and twirl of Earth and Sun. With abbreviated days and elongated nights, let’s meld into the rhythms, do more with less, practice (whatever) like an ascetic and dissolve seconds off the impossible.

Radiate endurance Zen—and enjoy the Equinox!