Episode 4: Marathon Swimming: The Inner Experience with Jim Clifford Artwork

All Things Contemplative

There is a contemplative dimension of life (CDL) to which we can awaken via nature, science, art, religion or otherwise. A religious person might say such awakening is a grace and of god’s will. Other’s that it is simply a human potentiality, common to all. This podcast explores how people and traditions understand the CDL and related practices; and how such practices can enrich life experience. HOST: Ron Barnett received a doctorate in psychology and worked for many years in medical research with the U.S. National Institutes of Health. He is a lifelong student and teacher of contemplative practices and the flourishing of human well-being. Ron served as a Board Trustee of Contemplative Outreach, Ltd. and Coordinator of its Chapter for metropolitan Washington DC. He now teaches with The Miksang Institute for Contemplative Photography. CONTACT: rbarnett@hey.com. BLOG: https://contemplativepodcast.posthaven.com/

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All Things Contemplative

Episode 4: Marathon Swimming: The Inner Experience with Jim Clifford

October 23, 2020 • Ron Barnett • Episode 4

“My mind was racing with a thousand thoughts. I was not sure how I would deal with the long, dark hours to come but I soon noticed that each hand pull stirred up the bioluminescence in the water and broke up the darkness below. After I mentally adjusted to the dark space below me, I turned my focus to the night sky and the universe on display in the stars. I had rarely seen a night sky so bright and so full of stars…I got lost in the stars for several hours and the time passed as if I was time traveling…I realized that the whole ocean below me had lit up with its own show of bioluminescence…below me as deep as I could see, there were star-like dots of light, mimicking the night sky. I felt like I was floating in space, suspended between the sky and the sea. It was humbling and at the same time, felt primal on a level that is hard to articulate…it was the ultimate experience…time melted away in the largeness of it all.” (Jim Clifford, Catalina Channel night swim)

Jim Clifford, attorney, farmer, and senior citizen shares how he trains his body and mind, the psychology of open water swimming including "the zone", how he manages his mind during the many continuous hours involved, his experience of two contemplative values silence and solitude when swimming alone for hours at a time, and transcendence in nature.

https://openwaterswimming.com/2015/11/jim-clifford-thrice-as-nice

https://www.clifforddebelius.com

Jane Goodall https://awaken.com/2020/05/mystical-experience-of-jane-goodall-ph-d/

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