THE INEFFABLE WITHIN OUR REACH

WHAT THE ARTS CAN DO AND WHAT SPORTS CAN DO.

I am going to sound  more like a fool than usual today because three things just suddenly came together in my mind in a way that   surprised and overtook me with the rightness of it all.
EPIPHANY IN THE  BUCKET!!

Yes, it happened  here  just last night.  I was watching the happy fact of the Rockets finally overtaking the Warriors and I was switching to a wonderful two hour concert  of the  songs of Emmylou Harris and I had read  earlier that day a  post by the Franciscan  ground-breaker Richard Rohr and he spoke of how  Spiritual reality can show itself in the  artistic and creative achievements of others. 

 I would enlarge that  and say that a richer spiritual reality suddenly surfaces in our daily lives when we see some sports moments and some musical moments and they sweep us up into an almost ecstatic recognition of the  REALITY  OF THE DIVINE  that is   keeping it all going.

For me  1st. it was the perfection and swiftness of the Rockets in moving and passing the ball.  They make plain that  basketball is a  team sport.  And they suddenly brought to mind the words that I heard a player say  on GET UP  that morning.  He said that  THE BALL is a  Magnet it draws all players to it and when they have it  and pass it they feel a tremendous energy. 

I was struck when I heard it because it silenced every one else on the show because it was a real moment of what  People in other  than Christian traditions call DARSHAN--the moment when the veil trembles and we get a  glimpse at the hidden reality. That is what he was  telling  us about.  That is how the Spirit touches a basketball player.  And when they do not get to hold and pass the ball they become bystanders in their own defeat. See that in the CAVS in Game 2 against the Celtics.

Who ever wants to win the NAtional Championship has now seen a model of how to do it. Rockets, Celtics and Cavs should watch the tape of the Houston team defeating the greatest team in the  NBA.. That is the way to do it. Recalling that BASKETBALL IS A TEAM SPORT --it is never for long a one-man show.