Article August 5, 1972 Issue

Realizing Potential

JEAN WHITEHEAD

Winning an Olympic medal. Rocketing to the moon. Or exceeding normal standards in any field of human endeavor. Are such achievements out of reach for most of us? Not if they are seen in terms of realizing potential.

This phrase has two interpretations. First, it means seeing the possibilities, or recognizing that more can be done. Second, it means fulfilling these possibilities, or actually bringing to pass what was first glimpsed as a possibility.

Let's begin with the first interpretation as applied to athletics. Where is the greatest potential? In a material body or in divine Mind, God? One is limited. The other is not. If we think of merely stretching the finite, we are trying to do a lot with a little, so the result is struggle and uncertainty. If we think, instead, of drawing on the infinite, we find that we are really doing very little with something that is endless, so the result can be effortless, joyous. It hints of an ever-increasing experience.

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