Running: A Fever

Continuing on the theme of mental control, I try to invent some way to help myself get through the run. Some strategy of thought and concentration to distract me, to fight off negative thoughts, what I call the Demons of Doubt. I call them demons because they seem to act on their own. I don’t have to come up with doubts and negative thoughts. They exist in the absence of positive thoughts. They are not just proactive, they are evil, because they want to interfere with something I want to do that is good. While in the real world good and evil are never so simple, in the metaphorical and motivational sense, this concept works. Everything I do is good, at least in my own opinion, even when I am doing something that is objectively bad. I am either trying to do good and I fail, as all humans do, or I am mistaken in my determination that the act is good. And there you have it – an ultra-simplified version of the Thomistic philosophy of good and evil. More...