Article July 8, 1996 Issue

Spirituality and sports

Mark Swinney

There is nothing like feeling the joy that comes from breaking through old limits or, with the summer Olympics taking place in Atlanta, seeing others perform better than they've done in the past. It's tremendously satisfying to discover for yourself or witness in others new levels of achievement.

Can you remember how you felt in some of your own very best moments and performances? Whether it was hitting a 4-iron stiff at the pin, finishing a run with what feels like more energy than when you started, smoothly moving a soccer ball through opposing players, or hitting a backhand into the opposite corner of the court with power and grace—there is something common to excellent performance.

What people will often tell you after playing better than ever before is how surprised they were to find that in those moments of achievement, their actions didn't feel forced but seemed almost effortless. At these times, athletes often experience an obliviousness to physicality. Such moments can do much to help a person feel his or her real, spiritual identity as God's expression. The source of true identity is divine Mind, or God, and this can be proved on the cricket pitch or football field as well as in the workplace or sickroom. Divine Mind expresses itself in ideas, spiritual ideas. Just as God isn't constricted by physicality, neither is His spiritual idea, man.

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