Sometimes it appears that doing something too repetitively can lead to injury or exhaustion. A matter-based perspective tends to consider this as “normal” cause and effect—something just to be accepted. Spiritually, however, there is another way to see it.
I learned a bit about this while training for a mountain bike race down the Continental Divide from Canada to Mexico. Over the winter, I put in a lot of training miles and was dealing with a number of injuries as the date of the race neared. Persistent knee pain and saddle sores made me feel uncertain about starting something that would require riding long hours each day for several weeks.
So I prayed. I asked God for understanding about how to approach the physical challenge from a spiritual perspective—a perspective I was sure would bring healing. And the inspiration that came in prayer was that no spiritual action results in injury or exhaustion.
I felt impelled to see more clearly that all real action is spiritual in nature—not self-generated, physically powered, or mentally driven. The book of Acts records the Apostle Paul’s assertion that in God, Spirit, “we live, and move, and have our being” (17:28). To me, Paul is saying that all true form and function is the expression of Spirit itself. And I knew that if I understood this, I would experience it in my life.
Another way to think about action is as movement. Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer of Christian Science, helps us perceive movement spiritually: “Mind is the source of all movement, and there is no inertia to retard or check its perpetual and harmonious action” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 283). She saw that God-derived movement is harmonious and that nothing has the power or permission to keep us from expressing it.
Mrs. Eddy also encourages us to “feel the divine energy of Spirit, bringing us into newness of life and recognizing no mortal nor material power as able to destroy” (Science and Health, p. 249). She learned in her own life that discerning the source of all energy to be divine Spirit, God, enables us to see ourselves as the outcome of that limitless source. Then we are freed from believing that exhaustion has to follow high levels of action and movement.
As I prepared for the race, I prayed deeply to grasp the truth of these ideas. Soon, I felt much clearer about what was really happening while I rode. This activity wasn’t about physically working out, pushing a physical body by mental willpower. Rather, the true workout was happening spiritually. I was refining my consciousness of Spirit as the source of energy and endurance and of divine Mind as the source of movement.
By race day, I was free of all injuries and ready for the event, supported by my ongoing prayer. Twenty-five days and 2750 miles later, I finished the race feeling stronger and freer than before the start. No injuries, no exhaustion, just joyful gratitude for what I had experienced and learned spiritually.
Viewed spiritually, right action cannot result in injury, exhaustion, or any other bad outcome—whether during a specific repetitious activity such as riding a bicycle or in simply living life. We are each able, here and now, to express Spirit’s infinite wholeness and Mind’s boundless action.