Goals and Mindfulness By Dr. Thomas Ritter, www.artisticdressage.com I found a paragraph in Robert M. Pirsig’s book, “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance,” that I liked and that can be applied to riding: “Mountains should be climbed with as little effort as possible and without desire. The reality of your own nature should determine the speed. If you become restless, speed up. If you become winded, slow down. You climb the mountain in an equilibrium between restlessness and exhaustion. Then, when you’re no longer thinking ahead, each footstep isn’t just a means to an end but a unique event in itself. This leaf has jagged edges. This rock looks loose. From this place the snow is less visible, even though closer. These are things you should notice anyway. To live only for some future goal is shallow. It’s the sides of the mountain which sustain life, not the top. Here’s where things grow. But of course, without the top you can’t have any sides. It’s the top that defines the sides.”
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t is especially the second half of the passage that I find appealing. It goes right to the core of Zen philosophy. A couple of years ago, there was an article, I believe in Dressage Today, that discussed the relevance of goals in riding and how to establish long-term and short-term goals. Making a diagnosis and determining a course of action (i.e. picking a goal and pursuing it) was such an integral part of each and every lesson I had with my teach-
ers that I cannot see how anybody could possibly ride any other way. So when I saw this article, I was very puzzled, to say the least, that anybody actually felt the need to point out the obvious: that you have to know where you are going. To me, the greater danger lies not in a lack of orientation, but in a false ambition that is generated by our goals. It is a very human quality to live in the future (or in the past), instead of in
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20 • Saddle Up • September 2015
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