Starting Strength and Prayer
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Recently I started taking two things in life seriously; my faith and my physical strength. Instead of just learning about each, dabbling with it for a bit, and then going back to how I was living, I have made a focused effort putting daily practice into both. Practicing each daily does not come to me (or most today) naturally, and I have to take time and effort into developing these new habits, and talk to people about them instead of keeping everything inside my head. This requires the humble step of admitting to myself and others; I am a beginner in these things.
The issue with admitting that I'm a novice in anything is this; for years I had presented myself to others and myself as an expert. I learn the surface level of a topic, know enough to do the basics or discuss it, and then put no further effort into the matter. It gives my ego a brief boost when someone says or thinks "Wow he's smart" or "Wow he's fit". But over the years, that moment is worth nothing. What has worth is not presenting myself as an expert through words and explanation, but demonstrating through action.
The only way to become an expert is to know what to do during the novice stage.
For strength, the steps are obvious.
- Lift weights.
- Then, lift heavier weights.
- You've become stronger.
- Repeat.
For faith, the steps also seem obvious.
- Pray.
- Learn more about your faith.
- Share in your faith.
- Your faith has grown.
- Repeat.
Simple as the steps are, it helps to learn from those who have spent many decades expanding on each step rather than blindly attempting to figure them out for myself. I have found two books useful which are dedicated to growing as a beginner in each topic. Each book opens with a similar but contradictory statement.
Peter Kreeft's 2000 book "Prayer for Beginners" opens with:
"Eating keeps your body alive, and prayer keeps your soul alive. Praying is more important than eating because your soul is more important than your body. Your soul is more important than your body because your soul is you, your personality, your self. You will get a new body after death, in the resurrection at the end of the world. But you will not get a new soul; you will only purify and sanctify your old one, because you are your soul. The “you” that will get a new body is your soul. Praying keeps your soul alive because prayer is real contact with God, and God is the life of the soul as the soul is the life of the body. If you do not pray, your soul will wither and die, just as, if you do not eat, your body will wither and die."
Mark Rippetoe's 2011 3rd edition book "Starting Strength" opens with:
"Physical strength is the most important thing in life. This is true whether we want it to be or not. As humanity has developed throughout history, physical strength has become less critical to our daily existence, but no less important to our lives. Our strength, more than any other thing we possess, still determines the quality and the quantity of our time here in these bodies. Whereas previously our physical strength determined how much food we ate and how warm and dry we stayed, it now merely determines how well we function in these new surroundings we have crafted for ourselves as our culture has accumulated. But we are still animals – our physical existence is, in the final analysis, the only one that actually matters."
Are they both correct? Do they contradict? Peter's point is that the body cannot exist without the soul, therefore the soul is more important. Mark explicitly states when talking about strength:
"our time here in these bodies"
which specifies very clearly that he is not discussing anything outside the realm of our earthly bodies on this plane of existence. He did not write the book making any mention of soul or faith, so he's not making a comparison of the two. I don't know if Mark would agree but his statement could be expanded to:
[Apart from your soul,] physical strength is the most important thing in life.
Now, assuming faith is in perfect order, would Peter agree that each soul should aspire to test the limits of the body's physical strength? Peter Kreeft also has a series of writings called "Socrates' Children". I have not read these, but this makes me think of a quote often attributed to Socrates (through Xenophon):
No man has the right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training. It is a shame for a man to grow old without seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable.
My understanding is that, as contradictory as the opening texts might seem, they do not contradict in the slightest. One cannot exist without the other, body and soul, during our time here on Earth. One benefits from the enrichment of the other, but both must be individually trained and practiced in order to one to see benefit from the other. I'll continue to grow in each individually without comparing the importance.
The main point I must remind myself daily is also succinctly stated in both books.
Prayer for Beginners:
Second, you must actually do it, not just read about doing it, think about doing it, understand how to do it, plan to do it, or imagine yourself doing it. It is a cookbook, not a dinner.
Starting Strength:
Exercise is the thing we must do to replicate the conditions under which our physiology was – and still is – adapted, the conditions under which we are physically normal.
Reading and thinking about "one day" doing these is not enough. It is the focused, determined daily practice of exercising mind and body, that will see results. The arguing online, chastising others for "getting it wrong", preaching about how much I know, or pretending to be an expert in these matters will avail to nothing. This is difficult, to take time out of each day to practice. But what's not difficult is to see the reality of years spent ignoring the two most important aspects of life as we know it. It shows on our body, our face, and the parts of the soul we share with others. It's an ugly reality without strength and prayer.