[Seasons: Summer XIX]
What’s summer without swimming?
Swimming is not an escape from summer, but a relief from one element of summer: the heat.
Every season in life has elements that are overbearing. Winter has it darkness or cold; fall has the loss of life; spring has its surprising freezes. Summer, while full of life and abundance, has overwhelming heat.
Moderated heat is soothing, even healing. It encourages the flow of blood, cleanses pores, and clears the mind. Unmoderated heat dehydrates and burns. The epitome of summer heat looks like a CA forest fire. The sun seems to jump right out and touch the surface of the forest tinder, and within minutes, it seems, 100,000 acres are charred.
No season in life is a cruise through utopia. If it’s not the surprising “burning” effects of an outside source like the sun, there’s always the “heat” of internal unhealth—addiction, self-criticism, prejudice, lust, etc—that can do damage.
Swimming is not an escape but a relief. Swimming doesn’t deny, project, or repress the heat; it embraces the potentially damaging effects with honest action.
