It's a long read alright, but beautifully written and with a lot to unpack. One of the bolded quotes: > If the soul is like a garden, then it is most often som

It's a long read alright, but beautifully written and with a lot to unpack. One of the bolded quotes: > If the soul is like a garden, then it is most often something we prune for the world, worried about the way in which it might grow out of its plot, and reveal itself past the confines of whatever private property we have come to call ourselves. A thought which comes to the author while listening to a friend tell stories about his own endurance race over beers. > What I noticed about Matt in the aftermath of his race was that he was overcome with an almost boundless joy. It was a joy, too, that didn’t seem to arrive as a result of finishing, but simply as a result of being. For a few days, he had lived in a world that didn’t operate by the rules of this one... Endurance sports, travel, a new piece of music, a good book, making a new friend, anything that immerses me in a different world, allows me to see myself as more than I thought I was. There's a growth of the essential thing that is me, whether you call that a soul or whatever and it loosens the hold of those cares of the old world.