Spiritual Insights on The Super Bowl

 

 

My big confession up front. I’m not much of a football fan.

Another confession, I am a HUGE Seattle fan and my love of Seattle has overridden my neutrality for The Sport. I have found myself counting down the days until the big game on Sunday. I’m talking about it with strangers. I have a reservation made at a sports bar with my daughter and some friends for the big event. I have my Seahawks temporary tattoos ready for application; I am invested.

So, today while in meditation, I pondered about this new compulsion to watch Sunday’s game. I decided to compare the little I know about football with what I know about spirituality. Here goes —

Insight Number 1: At some point in our life, each of us will play the role of each major position of the game. Starting with the team owner. Each one of us has held the responsibility at some level of managing financial or relationship investments we have made. We know what it feels like to have our “skin in the game” and depend upon others to be a part of fulfilling our own dream. We have also been the coach. Training, teaching, supervising, motivating and discipling others for the benefit of the whole. We rely upon strategy, practice, preparation, belief, and some luck. We are in the position of trusting the team to be ready. We have all been a team member responsible to ourselves and the whole simultaneously; whether it be our family, social circle, or workgroup. And, we have lived the role of a fan of and for another. We have done silly things to demonstrate our devotion. Seahawk fans are outrageous (see photos below)!! I have witnessed them half naked with body paint prancing around in the rain and snow. They scream, yell, make signs, wear wigs, blow horns, anything to demonstrate “we are here; we are part of the action.” It is said that Seattle fans make the loudest noise of all fan groups.

The spiritual correlation with this insight is having empathy and understanding for the other. The Spiritual Principle at play is Unity, or being a part of the Whole. It is who we naturally are.

Insight Number 2: Sports are FILLED with ritual. I have attended ball games with die-hard fans. Each one has their own preparation process or practice to ready themselves. This can include arriving at a specific time to the game. It can include bringing good luck charms, wearing special items of clothing or wearing team colors, eating certain foods, saying cheers — the ritual is important to the fan. Practice and ritual are essential to the person who lives a spiritual life.

Insight Number 3: Each of us desires to live a life that matters. We have an inner drive to be excellent at what we do. In sports, the player is  either the best of the best or they lose their position to someone who is. Dedication, practice, tenacity, and character touch within us our own desire to be our best.

Insight Number 4: Every moment counts in the game. The NOW is where the coach, player, and fan must reside. The previous play or the play to come doesn’t matter. What matters is what is happening on the field RIGHT NOW. The NOW moment is where the spiritual person lives. Remember the book The Power of Now, by Eckhart Tolle? It was on the best seller list for years. A ball game, especially a heightened one such as the Super Bowl, is one of the the few times we come together as a culture in the current moment. Living in this state naturally produces an aliveness that many can find uncomfortable. This is why I believe so much alcohol is consumed around games; the intensity of the moment can be uncomfortable to those who don’t normally reside there. 

Insight #5. Mystics and spiritual masters have said The Kingdom of Heaven is here now. We can take ourselves out of the Kingdom by being a “poor sport.” The moment our attention shifts from spectator to hater, a beer sipper to a drunk we have pushed ourselves out of the Kingdom.

That is my commentary … oh yeah … that’s another role we’ve all experienced, right? 

Sunday is less than three days away. My sign off today goes like this —

Go Hawks!!!!

From A Playful Spirit,