"Address the Ball." "Hello, Ball!"

Dear reader, please forgive me, I'm working through something. I've been contemplating a vision (see previous post) of myself (is it really me?) as a 13 year old boy, all alone, whacking a golf ball into the distance. So, here goes: we are born (where were we, before we were born?) into the human race. It's a 'race,' like no other. We all start from a different place, with a different face. We may think we're in competition, for food, status, sex, etc., (and maybe we are) but this is basically a sideshow. Some of us prosper and live, some of us wither and die. Ultimately, we all end up in the same place (not sure what this place is, or is not). What we choose to 'do,' is what defines us. What we believe, what we say, and think about ourselves, seems less important.

So, this little boy, swings his golf club; he's not trying to score, not trying to surpass anyone else, not trying to impress his friends and family, not trying to 'win' a girl. He's not trying... He swings the club, with no effort, or, he's working in the realm of 'effortlessness,' where the club, the ball, the distance are at play in some optimum balance. There is no 'perfect shot,' but there are times when everything seems to fall just right, and the little white ball takes an extraordinary little trip into the world. The boy, is working towards some unity of mind, heart, spirit, but he doesn't know it, it's not in his head, he's working from a much simpler framework, killing time, passing time, no, in a state of timelessness. There's no fear, no dread, no confusion, no indecision, no feeling of guilt ("Jesus died for somebody's sins, but not mine") or invalidation. There is no time, no judgement. God is not looking over his shoulder. God is irrelevant in this state. Again, these are not words or ideas that even surface in the boy's consciousness. There's a clarity of purpose. A simple, clean, swing - nothing more, nothing less...the world... complete.