PureInsight | May 21, 2001
Last night I had a dream about baseball. In the dream, there were baseball players in a stadium with a crowd in the stands. Superimposed on the field was a parabolically shaped superstructure made of orange lines. The lines looked like a dynamics graph in physics or a random disorder chart in engineering. Furthermore, the orange structure represented every pitch-hit outcome possible; there were short choppers, pop flies, and foul balls, etc. Most interesting, though, was the home run line. It arched high across the left field fence, landing somewhere in the stands. For some reason, at this particular second, the batter was able to hit the home run. It wasn’t that he was trying, though. In fact, he wasn’t really even thinking. It was as though he was connected to the superstructure on a higher plane—like he had the home run “in him.” Many times, people say, “I didn’t know you had it in you.” Maybe the player had cultivated this home run inside of him through long hours of practice. Thus, when he emptied his mind, the home run naturally came out. I remember hearing the story of Hank Arron when I was a kid. Hank Arron was a one of the greatest home run hitters of all time. There was a period, however, when Hank was unable to hit the home runs needed to break the all-time home run record. Oddly enough, the more he tried, the harder it was for him to hit the home run. Only once he stopped trying could he finally hit it. My understanding is, therefore, that greatness on a baseball field, or anywhere for that matter, comes from 1) hard work, and 2) non-attachment. Only by letting go of the attachment to certain outcomes can the truly magical things such as homeruns happen. And only by cultivating the homerun through hard work can the baseball player be there to make it happen.
5-4-2001
