Tor Rønnow

6 Star Finisher 7 Continents Finisher 75 Marathon countries Author of best-seller running book Mountain hiker Off-piste alpine skier Chess player

Vanity – Blaise Pascal noch einmal

Vanity !

In our lifetime and in the context of the radio, the television and latest the Internet – in short, the era of the Media – Vanity is clearly one of the strongest drivers in the human experience and in the Quest for Happiness, for carriers, for relationships.

On the upside people set goals, they develop themselves, they are motivated. On the downside, people might become criminals, they might envy each other (or some, at least), and – worst of all – they may forget to reflect on the very Nature of being alive ! Yes, they may live in the blinfolded and totally unconstructive persuit of pleasing the surroundings to fulfill a certain ideal… for the pure reason of it’s… image. That is Vanity ! That is a waste of a Life ! Count how many you have !

Many years ago, the Philosopher Blaise Pascal realized all this. If you read his book ‘Penseés’ (anno 1670 !)(“Thoughts”) you will find hinsights that will make you think ! Think about how fragile and how insignificant our lives truly are. Just take in a few quotes:

We are so presumptuous that we should like to be known all over the world, even by people who will only come when we are no more. Such is our vanity that the good opinion of half a dozen of the people around us gives us pleasure and satisfaction.

Or how about this one:

How many Kingdoms know not of us ?

Think about these quotations for a sec. How can one really take the Vanity game of our lifetime truly seriously once realized that it’s just… abstractions. Fact is, we live and die and become dust. We disappear.

So much for Vanity !

Happiness and The Future Browser

At any given moment we construct our own Personal Reality based on our previous experiences, on our current relationships (of any kind), on our private ‘psychology’ and our projections onto our surroundings, partners, children, colleagues etc. We construct a Love & Happiness Browser linking into an enjoyable Future building pages from the Probability Spread constructed on the aforementioned parameters. We hope that our time-casted dreams will materialize. We hope.

However, sometimes the Browser goes astray… sometimes the Future pages diplayes unwanted content. Unhappiness, defeat, ruin, discontent… in one or more of the subparts of the Physical, Mental or Emotional dimensions. We identify ourselves with faliure…. and we think that our interpretation of Reality is the Reality itself. It is not.

Most Unhappiness in the Western World derives from the ‘Comparison Game’ and from time-leaping into either an idylised Past or an unrealistic forecasted Future.  We forget again and again to experience and use our Powers in the Single and Only Timepoint we really own and possess: The Moment of NOW !

I think we can increase our Happiness NOW by being flexible towards the Future, to be open to new Interpretations, to new habits, to new learnings and to the invaribale fact that everything is Changing. So… always try to understand and finetune your Future Browser. The Probability Field for Your Future is subject to change any given moment. Life may work against you, Life may work with you. You must work too !

The Art is to maintain control over the mouse and click on the Furture pages that truly reflect YOU and that support the continual human drive for fulfilling real needs, for personal development – and Love. Identify your own virtues, give your life a meaning, set goals ! Browse !

Did you click a Page you didn’t like ? Click again ! Do not think that the Probability Field is limited…. it is your own thoughts that are ! Dreamcast again ! Fight !

Click  

Stockholm marathon 2008

This past Saturday I had the extreme (hot) pleasure of running Stockholm marathon… what a great race and gee, my, gosh…. such great weather…. such nice crowds… and many sweet things to look at as well 😉

Finish line at the Olympic Stadion in Stockholm

Stockholm is just a breathtaking city which Im sure you will agree to after looking at my pictures from the race here !

Copenhagen marathon 2008

On a perfect day I had the pleasure of running Copenhagen marathon 2008 with the ‘Team Erhard’ celebrating marathon no. 400 for my running mate Erhard Filtenborg ! Congratulations !

The race itself was very well organized by Sparta and GLITNIR Banking and the atmosphere along the route was just great ! The weather was ideal for running and several of my other running mates collected new PRs – well done !

You can see my pictures from the race here (and you can upload your own to Politiken).

 Team Erhard in the starting field at Copenhagen marathon 2008

End of Year Four !

My first marathon was in Copenhagen, Denmark almost four years ago, ie. the 16.05.2004.

Thus, my personal marathon year spands from the 16th of May each year. With my races in Sweden this weekend, I have now completed my first four years of marathon running :

Year 1: 4 marathons – including Berlin and London !

Year 2: 12 marathons – including Stockholm, Amsterdam, Dublin, Elbtunnel, Paris and Hamburg.

Year 3: 28 marathons – including, well, too many to mention… New York, Boston, Rome, Barcelona, Vienna and Monschau on top. Not to mention ‘my own’ event GARMIN Rudersdal marathon.

Year 4: 36 marathons – including Chicago, Magdeburg, Paris, Zürich as the biggest events. Notably, I collected the last of the World Majors with the completion of Chicago Marathon, a feat that only two Danes have acomplished to my knowledge (well, and we did it the very same day !).

New this year was also the task of running ‘double marathons’, i.e. two marathons during one weekend… I did three of them… and, of course, the just completed 5-marathons-in-96-hours thingy which included the ‘2 marathons within 24 hours’ trophy.

I am not unhappy 😉

You can find picture and stories from most of these races via ‘My marathons’ from the menu at the page right.