My RSS Feeds
Why are Guys in Pubs so Obsessed with Sports?
One of my clients wrote:
Question: I’m in Britain and I watch guys in pubs. Why are they so passionately engaged in sports, when the results, to any sane and rational mind, don’t really matter? Isn’t this focus on competition, on crushing one’s rivals, even if it’s only a stupid football (soccer) game, a bad thing – spiritually-speaking? What is your Buddhist take on this? No, being passionately engaged is not "bad." The right word from the Buddhist perspective is really "sad." The goal of life is to be conscious of what we put our energy into. I would look at them and I would think that humanity has a tremendous ability to passionately care - and they are squandering energy that could be harnessed to make a better world. The competition harms them in two ways: in addition to wasting their energy, it also increases their drive to conquer, to win over others. Consider this wisdom from the Dhammapada: “Winning over others brings only sadness, for the defeated lie down in anger, dreaming of revenge. The one who lives without winning over others can live in peace.” Competition makes people feel good because the limbic system (internal biochemical “feel good” mechanism) is engaged. You can also get a thrill from competing with yourself. Even competing with others per se isn’t going to move you away from wisdom and enlightenment. It’s being attached to the outcome that is the problem; it is the conquering thrill or the shame that our brains tell us to experience at the outcome that is the problem. If you can work at improving some aspect of your work or your behavior (becoming more patient, perhaps) and track your progress, but are not going to feel more than mildly happy or sad because of the outcome, then you aren’t attached to the outcome. I have goals and I work at them, but I hold them lightly in my hand. I wasn’t as upset at missing Christmas with my family [because of pneumonia] as I would have been last year or that others thought I was; I had a deep conviction that the outcome was as it should be. I have much less success and equanimity about financial matters; man, do I get attached to positive cash flow and worry constantly when it is draining out. The other reason that the pub devotees are passionately devoted to their teams is that being passionately devoted to something generates a very strong limbic response. I believe that we humans are programmed to be devoted to things larger than ourselves; we are not essentially selfish machines. They are also enjoying the positive limbic response from being close to others. They are not being devoted alone in the dark (as a prayerful person could be). We are social creatures and we need and yearn for that human connection.We need these people’s energy and passion, their devotion to a goal larger than oneself in a community of people drawing together. Why couldn’t they have jokes and camaraderie while they build a Habitat for Humanity house? Competition to see which team could build the best bedroom, without being really attached to the result? That is one Buddhist perspective. And that’s what the guys at the pub are craving. It has nothing whatever to do with what is ostensibly going on; you so wisely saw that the result has no “real” [meaning tangible] impact on their lives. It’s the intangibles that they are getting that matter, in fact that are more important to human beings that water and food and the air we breathe. What they are seeking is that which makes them human.