Have you ever run alone? And have you run in someone's com­pany? Can you recall the lived exper­i­ence of each? When you are alone, there comes a moment when you won­der why you ever set out, and how much sim­pler it would be to turn back. But when you run beside someone, such a thing never even crosses your mind. And there is no need to think of an organ­ised race, for simply exer­cising togeth­er is enough, and how­ever you may hide it, the com­pet­it­ive spir­it is already rising in you. You do bet­ter, tire less, never even ques­tion the sense of run­ning togeth­er, and have no wish to turn back.

Com­pet­i­tion has fired human­kind for thou­sands of years. You com­pete with your rival, with your oppon­ent, with time, with a mil­lion other para­met­ers, and of course with your­self.

Com­pet­i­tion is a good resource for per­form­ing under strain, and we might also call it pos­it­ive stress, or a pro­duct­ive tone. It can be noble rivalry, but it can also end in ruth­lessly crowding oth­ers out. The motto Citi­us, alti­us, for­ti­us!, that is, Faster, high­er, stronger!, not only urges us to take part but draws us into the spell of num­bers: seconds, metres, dream bar­ri­ers, medals, points tables… this same spell also holds mar­ket com­pet­i­tion, man­u­fac­tur­ers' devel­op­ment strategies, the fore­cast­ing of jour­neys into space, to the Moon and to Mars, the incant­a­tion of per-cap­ita GDP, the delu­sions of digit­al tech­no­logy or of fic­ti­tious, vir­tu­al sys­tems of power, which little by little have grown ripe for change.

There is com­pet­i­tion among plants as well. You would think them peace­ful, but they strive to crowd one anoth­er out. Their liv­ing togeth­er is only a neces­sity, and if one of them gets more water or sun­light, those around it turn against it. The weed, too, is quick­er than the seed­ling, and plants com­pete, as do anim­als, of course. One liv­ing being serves as food for anoth­er, and this too is a ruth­less com­pet­i­tion.

It is almost nat­ur­al that people com­pete as well. It is as if in ancient times they could have chosen between cooper­a­tion and com­pet­i­tion, and it seems they voted for com­pet­i­tion. Of course, cooper­a­tion shows itself too, but com­pet­i­tion soon com­petes with it…

In the world of mat­ter rivalry seems a nat­ur­al pat­tern of beha­viour, but what of the realm of spir­itu­al­ity? What if that world does not work by the laws of mat­ter…?

The wise argue over who is right – this is com­pet­i­tion. Reli­gious people argue over whose god is stronger – this too is com­pet­i­tion. Reli­gions or ideo­lo­gies vie over which has more fol­low­ers and great­er influ­ence – com­pet­i­tion in earn­est! Per­haps even begin­ning mys­tics fall into this trap, and dis­pute which of them has already attained buddha­hood, or who has reached more sub­lime insights… Of course, one who has already arrived some­where does not dis­pute but agrees, does not com­pete but rejoices when the other arrives at the goal.

It would be a grave mis­take for a spir­itu­al per­son to prac­tise while temp­ted by the com­pet­it­ive spir­it. Every­one nat­ur­ally longs for signs, for spir­itu­al exper­i­ences and insights, but authen­t­ic fol­low­ing is not a hunt for lived exper­i­ences. If there are signs, good, and if there are none, that takes noth­ing from the valid­ity of the truth, and the pro­cess is to be fol­lowed even so. A pro­cess that prom­ises easy and quick enlight­en­ment is best admired from afar. But where noble ideals are joined with pure inten­tion and self-sac­ri­fi­cing prac­tice, there the search is worth con­tinu­ing.

True, mys­tic­al exper­i­ence may come even without sac­ri­fice, but only to the chosen. What is more, even with sac­ri­fice it is not cer­tain that the true exper­i­ence of God will be gran­ted. Sim­il­ar feel­ings and exper­i­ences hover about sin­cere seekers and prac­ti­tion­ers, but real res­ults stand apart from self-decep­tion.

In human rela­tions com­pet­i­tion aims at assert­ing the ego. From the stand­point of growth this is a great and drawn-out waste of time, yet recog­nising and over­com­ing it is a pro­found achieve­ment. So the greatest rival is not without but with­in, and it is not to be com­peted with, but tri­umphed over.