The best athlete
The same qualities that develop a great man or a great woman also develop a great athlete. Factors that determine good athletic performance include confidence, calmness, concentration, courage, and fearlessness. These factors are mental, not physical. They enhance one's performance, whereas fear, lack of concentration, and disturbance will detract from and interfere with it. One quality in particular brings out the best in all of us, no matter what worthwhile activity we're engaged in. Our Leader, Mrs. Eddy, writes, "The best man or woman is the most unselfed." The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 165 ;
It is perhaps more obvious that a team player can be unselfed, but what about the individual performer—the gymnast, wrestler, swimmer, or runner? Can he or she be unselfed, too? Whether on a team or competing as an individual, the athlete can view his sport as a team sport if he unites himself with God. Cause can't exist without effect, and vice versa. In Christian Science, God is cause; and man, as the expression of God, is effect. To be on God's side, to work and act in harmony with God, is to be, in a sense, on His team.
Christ Jesus summarized the requirements of the Old Testament in two enormously unselfing commands. When a lawyer asked, "Master, which is the great commandment in the law?" Jesus replied, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." Matt. 22:36-39 ; These laws must be obeyed on the field of play as well as in our lives. When these standards are adhered to hourly and daily, the athlete will find his entire involvement in sports more enjoyable and spiritually rewarding.
A devotion to practicing "the first and great commandment" will master a false sense of self appearing as selfishness and pride. Self-love and self-glorification are forms of idolatry. Serving and trying to build up a mortal sense of selfhood will only thwart the athlete's goals and leave him feeling empty, estranged from a satisfying sense of closeness with God. However, to love God with all one's heart, soul, and mind is to glorify Him, and only this can bring real fulfillment. The Lord's Prayer concludes: "For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever." 6: 13; Jesus understood the allness and omnipotence of God and consequently the futility and hollowness of self-importance, self-will, and self-indulgence. He said, "If I honour myself, my honour is nothing." John 8:54 ;
Modesty and unselfishness strengthen the athlete's character, because they bring out the might he reflects from God. They stifle fear and bring the assurance that God is fully in control. Self-importance belies ignorance of God and His creation, man. God's man has no separate ego of his own but reflects the one divine Ego. Man reflects the activity of Mind in intelligence, harmony, and order. He is innocent of seeking personal glory, honor, or power. The athlete who understands there is only one power, one glory—God's—is the best athlete, regardless of how distant he may be from breaking a world record.
The competitor who practices the first great commandment is one who prays because he wants to be aligned with the source of all real activity. Through prayer he sees every competitor, whether on his own or an opposing team, to be God's sinless idea, fearless, incapable of hurting or wanting to hurt. He recognizes that because God alone is the source of power and action, the only real activity occurring is under His control and therefore coordinated and safe. Such unselfish prayer is a prayer of love—of understanding God's love for all. To know that God maintains perfect order throughout His universe of ideas is to refute the belief that there can be an accident, mistake, or collision.
The second great commandment that the Master gave us is an outgrowth of the first. Only as we properly love and understand God will we be able to love our neighbor as ourselves. The athlete's neighbor can be his fellow teammate, his coach, other competitors, officials—even members of the press. How do we make practical this second commandment?
By expressing the Christly goodness native to God's man, we provide an example for others. This Christliness will be more keenly seen and appreciated to the extent the athlete loves his fellow competitor as himself and helps him on that basis. God's man is never motivated by hatred or retaliation; and Jesus, who so fully illustrated that fact, gave us this guideline on how to regard anyone appearing to be our enemy: "Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." Matt. 5:43, 44 ;
The enemy is never a person or an opposing team, but the belief that man is material and existence is competitive. The unselfed thinker loves his fellowman because he reflects the God who loves all. This quality of thought elevates the athlete above discord and chance and adds confidence to his or her performance. Unselfish consideration and love for others also subdue the craving for personal recognition that so often blocks success.
We can rule out hatred and anger by refusing to accept any evaluation of another as being something contrary to the mentally lovely man of God's creating. Doing this we preserve the ninth commandment: "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour." Ex. 20:16 . The athlete who refrains from a mortal estimate of others will find that others are less apt to hold a mortal, finite estimate of him. We must see others as we would like to be seen— Godlike, spiritual, flawless, and unselfed.
A dynamic love for God and man can be enormously influential, because unselfed love encourages and brings out the best in everyone.
