Tuesday, July 31, 2012

The Olympics and the Gods

It is common knowledge that the Olympics originate with the ancient Greeks. Now normally, I am not a sports fan, too much overly aggressive competition and blind support for your local team for my tastes. The Olympics, however, fall into another category for me.

Whereas I know that all the various countries involved have a lot invested in their teams and there is a lot of rivalry, I don’t see the Olympics as a competition in which anyone can win. To me, it is about pure athleticism, mastery of the self and senses, and the journey for physical magnificence. I know all of that can still sound a lot like the same reason I don’t watch normal sports, but there is another vital difference.

In my eyes, whether intended or not, it is about the imitation of the Gods. By seeking to exist on the same level of physical prowess, even if it’s not actually possible save for the point in which we both occupy, is a form of worship and offering of devote recognition of the divine connection between the Gods and our own physical selves. By doing that which the Gods do, we bring the two closer, the false space between thee and me is made less. This is what I see in the Olympics. I see men and women whose lives have been devoted to one of the three levels of beings, the physical, and by laying that life of work upon the field before their peers with little gain, what is suppose to be little gain anyway, other than to see where the measure of that life of effort falls, is an act of devotion and imitation that few can pull off.

Keeping all that in mind, I love me some Olympics.

Boidh se!

-Spanish Moss

"Lost in a thicket bare-footed upon a thorned path."

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