Beauty is not the goal of competitive sports

“Beauty is not the goal of competitive sports, but high-level sports are a prime venue for the expression of human beauty. The relation is roughly that of courage to war” - David Foster Wallace (DFW)

This - in part - is why beauty is one of the big four virtues here at BEST MIND. It is a way in to the experience of love and often how we, ourselves, express love.

The quotations here are taken from the essay Federer Both Flesh and Not by the inimitable David Foster Wallace. If, like me, you’re a fan of athletic prowess and yet find most sports writing a big yawn know this: DFW is a far cry from the average journo.

“The human beauty we’re talking about here is beauty of a particular type: it might be called kinetic beauty. Its power and appeal are universal” - DFW

So you’re a dedicated, highly-competitive athlete. You are disciplined and committed. I will go further to assume that - if you are competing at a professional or semi-professional level, or have realistic intentions of doing so - you too are graced with said ‘kinetic beauty’.

Truth: your athleticism is a gift of great proportions. As such, would it not make to sense to realise this gift; to actualise your athletic potential by doing all you can to clear your internal path to success?

“Like certain types of rare, peak-type sensuous epiphanies (“I’m so glad to see this sunrise”, etc) great athletes seem to catalyse our awareness of how glorious it is to touch and perceive, move through space, interact with matter” - DFW

This is where meditation comes in: It enables the stillness of mind required for the body to consistently perform such great and beautiful things.

“What great athletes can do with their bodies are things are things that the rest of us can only dream of” - DFW

And what a powerful thing it can be to combine the ultimate awareness born of meditation with the virtue of beauty in full athletic force.

“The thing with Federer is that he’s Mozart and Metallica at the same time, and the harmony’s somehow exquisite” - DFW

I’ll leave it to DFW to close this one out. The attributes of Roger Federer - as noted by Foster Wallace - can only be realised by one whose beauty is in flow, unencumbered by fear or concern; by one whose mind is clear of thought, able to function on intuition born of practice (both meditation and athletic); and kinetic beauty, as gifted by the gods:

“Roger Federer is a first-rate kick-arse power-baseliner. It’s just that that’s not all he is. There’s also his intelligence, his occult anticipation, his court sense, his ability to read and manipulate opponents, to mix spins and speeds, to misdirect and disguise, to use tactical foresight and peripheral vision and kinesthetic range instead of just rote pace - all this has exposed the limits, and possibilities, of men’s tennis as it’s now played”  - DFW

This could be you in your chosen field. Get in touch with BEST MIND now for a meditation/mind-coaching package and together let’s work on the realisation of your full - and yet unknown - potential.