Sport and spirituality

[Podshell]

Redders-I don't think folk got rid of Jews, Gypsies, Russians, Gays and the disabled because he and the German people disagreed with the beliefs and lifestyles of those people, to me they were like mass sacrifices for the economy , to appease the German people.
Same with most types of taking over lands, SA and Australia , if it was so why didn't they simply strictly outlaw native religious practices? , those practices carry on today but we have the western system in place so it doesn't matter as the system is suitable for business, money and business are the kings.
There are some really good films that tug at the heartstrings about big oppressors v the opressed, these make the best stories and the one from your neck of the woods is by far my favourite as it encapsuates loads of stuff in a single film. The Rabbit Proof Fence-what a story!

[Podshell]

NS
In my earlier posts I mentioned how we and animals can avoid conflict by pitting ourselves against each other in less damaging ways eg at school instead of fighting you challenge each other to an arm wrestle, and hopefully dispute over, the stronger wins, I was trying to say sports can be like this, or maybe some were devised to avoid skirmishes, and as was mentioned earlier much mental debates take place,to establish things we don't often have physical skirmishes over local boundaries these days.

[Native spirit]

Please do not name political figures past or present


Namaste

[charly233]

Originally Posted by Redchic12

Spirituality doesn’t always have a win win.

Yes there Is obviously a huge downside to spirituality which is far from being a win-win situation. But this happens when spirituality gets mixed up with religion. For me the essence of spirituality Is win-win.

[charly233]

Originally Posted by Altair

You made this thread, you wish to convince us with the argument you make.

I am not sure if this is quite true. I am not particularly into convincing others or changing their minds. Sure it is nice if people agree with you. But when they disagree that is interesting too.

For me debate and discussion are more about sharing information and viewpoints rather than competition.

Not that there is anything inherently wrong with competition. If you feel like competing them compete to your hearts content. But cooperation is superior to competition in my opinion.

[Starman]

Are we talking about sport here or are we talking about violence? Checkers or chess are considered a sport and while they can be aggressive they are not violent. In my opinion competition is ego based and I truly believe that the only real competition which we have is with ourselves. But even plants and animals compete.

I was involved in track and field in high school and college, used to run track in completion, and also did the high jump in competition, against other schools. I felt no hate or animosity about those who I competed against. We had a friendly rivalry.

I know a priest who is a very gentle and loving person, he literally would not harm a fly, a very soft spoken person. But he goes to football games to yell and scream at the top of his lungs as a catharsis, to release emotions. He does not care who wins the game. Like everything else in duality, sport has its pros and cons.

[Native spirit]

I can agree with what you are saying Starman but sport now is all about an Ego trip for the players the violence comes in from the people who go and watch it,
When I was in school I used to run now even those people have to bring violence into it, the worst thing for doing it here is Little boys kicking a ball around they call themselves Footballers,


Namaste

[Altair]

Originally Posted by charly233

For me debate and discussion are more about sharing information and viewpoints rather than competition.

Not that there is anything inherently wrong with competition. If you feel like competing them compete to your hearts content. But cooperation is superior to competition in my opinion.

Competing isn't necessarily something you would be consciously aware of, as in ''I wanna be better''. It still happens in everyone though when they try to convince others.

''Non-competition'' is like the idea of ''non-violence'', which technically doesn't really exist either. Like when you change the landscape to grow crops and then say ''Well I didn't kill any wildlife'', but yet it happened indirectly anyway and there is competition over natural resources. Blissful ignorance is required to say one is all non-violent throughout the ordeal.

[Redchic12]

Starman…….”In my opinion competition is ego based and I truly believe that the only real competition which we have is with ourselves”

Agree. But at the same time there is a healthy ego and a destructive ego.

When I competed, sure I would love to be the winner, but doing a really good job and being proud and pleased with myself was more important to me because I just loved the sport so much. Was there ego involved? Well yes I guess there was. But was it destructive and did it harm another competitor? No.

Charly……”But cooperation is superior to competition in my opinion”

I definitely agree with that, but I guess there has to be room for both, as we humans naturally start competing at a young age and it will always be a part of our biological make up. I think we have to teach our children to compete in a healthy way.

I guess my point is that competition doesn’t always have to be destructive.

Great comments everyone. Been so interesting reading them all.

[Starman]

Native Spirit, no doubt about it ego does seek attention. I live in a country, the U.S., which is always talking about being number one in this world. I remember someone, I think it was in Finland, saying “can we be number two?” This was a joking remark to our former President saying “America is number one.”

There is so much competition here in the U.S., not only in sports, but T.V. stations telling people that they are number one. Personally I don’t care about being number one. Kids are growing up thinking they have to put others down in order to build themselves up. They have to be the strongest, the greatest, etc.

It is an ego trip and often that ego trip gets violent. People are ego invested in them winning over someone else; win-lose situations are everywhere. Most people do not think about win-win situations, or negotiation, compromise, etc. Its about winning at all costs, which devastates the person or people on the losing side. But most societies encourage this kind of behavior.