An Invitation to the Pain of Running

"I typically dislike being cold, to the extent that I avoid the frozen food aisle at the grocery store. However, the weather report indicates that there is no reprieve in sight. So, I am rising to the occasion and embracing the conditions. I am wearing multiple layers to run - three shirts and two pairs of pants. My pants are wearing pants. Even so, the elements are a bit uncomfortable (1)."

"In an age in which we are tempted to outsource the task of thinking to artificial intelligence (AI), we read this essay as a reminder that difficulty is a feature, not a bug, of education. To be educated is to be transformed. This transformation primarily happens through strain - productive strain, but strain nonetheless. Adler writes, "Anyone who has done any thinking, even a little bit, knows that it is painful ... It is fatiguing, not refreshing.""

My first U.S. Midwest winter is intensely cold, likened to Narnia's Hundred-Year Winter and Cocytus from Dante. I dislike cold to the point of avoiding frozen-food aisles but am layering clothing to run, wearing three shirts and two pairs of pants. Running already involves discomfort and often fosters transformation through difficult goals and persistence. Persisting through strain cultivates self-governance and growth, yet I decide not to embrace additional cold-induced challenge. A view holds that difficulty and cognitive strain are central to education, and that thinking is fatiguing rather than refreshing.

Read at iRunFar