Unbound by Precedent
This last Sunday at New Thought Center for Spiritual Living, I concluded a series on Spiritual Laws and how to use them. You can find the video feeds of these services on our facebook page here...Here is a summary of the final talk in the series:
So much of our life is lived in limitation. That is, we create mental models of what is possible and what is accepted, normal and what is not. THen we live according to those models. It is a rare few who dare to break the status quo and life a life not bound by the precedent that has gone before us.
“All humankind is more or less following the pattern of thought in which it is immersed.”
We all have some kind of limitation or upper limit to what we think is possible in our lives. Maybe it's about how much money we can earn, or lifestyle we can live, or whether we think we are good enough to have what we really want or do what really makes our heart sing. Whatever it is, the limitation is a mental construct rather than a true limitation. I want to let you know that its time to chase down our biggest aspirations and break through the limiting thoughts that we think are holding us back. The world is suffering from too many people sleepwalking in lives of mediocracy, accepting the limitations set forth by the hypnotic tone of limitation.
In the 1950's the running world was caught up in the quest for the impossible. A sub-Four Minute Mile. The record stood at 4:01.3 set in 1945 which stood for nearly nine years. Just 100 years prior the fastest mile was just over 4:50. The desire for a sub-four minute mile dated back 3000 years and the Greeks and Romans had focused earnestly for nearly 1000 years. But after a nine-year stalemate beginning in 1945 it had become commonly accepted by trainers, runners and experts alike that a mile faster than 4 minutes was not physically possible. it had become a mental model that was widely accepted.
Still, three men continued the impossible dream. Each hungered for the chance to be the one who broke the record. But only one understood that it was a mental race and not a physical one. British runner, Roger Bannister refused to utilize any outside trainers, coaches or conditioning experts. He trained with only himself. He knew that the world believed the goal to be impossible and thus he refused to surround himself with those who were influenced by the hypnosis if limitation.
Then on a cold, windy and rainy day in May 1954 Roger Bannister did the impossible. When he crossed the finish line, he collapsed to the ground, lost consciousness and was color blind for several mintues after he awoke. The time: 3minutes, 59.4 seconds.
“When we dare to break through our limitations, we create a path for others to follow.”
It was an amazing triumph to be sure. But the really remarkable thing is what happened after the record was broken. later that same year 16 more runners broke the 4 minute mark. The following year, 37. Today, dozens of runners have broken 4 minutes over 100 times in their carreer. The mile record today stands at a remarkable 3:43. Why did so many people break the record after Bannister? For no other reason than it simply became possible in the collective mind of humanity.
What is your four minute mile?