Finding spirituality in the Olympic Games

"In sport and journey, men are known." George Herbert -17th century poet

The modern Olympic Games are a secular pursuit. However, we might find in them some connection with spirituality, with the inner life that motivates all individuals. 

The Olympic Charter (page 11) talks about something called “Olympism”, which it defines as “a philosophy of life, exalting and combining in a balanced whole the qualities of body, will and mind.”  Olympism sounds a bit like a religion, only without a divinity or any mention of the spiritual side of the human person.

Some ancient history

The ancient Olympic Games were part of a religious festival. From at least as early as 776 BCE, male Greek citizens gathered on the plains of the sacred precinct of Olympia every four years to compete in athletic events in honor of the god Zeus. Although less well known, the ancient Greeks also held competitive games at Olympia for unmarried women in honor of the goddess Hera.

In the 5^th century BCE, there were other athletic games in honor of Zeus. King Archelaus held nine days of games in Dion, a small Macedonian village on the slopes of Mount Olympus. Mount Olympus, in Greek mythology, was the home of the gods. While Archelaus’s games were not the famed Olympics, they are an example of the value that the ancient Greeks placed on the connections between body, mind and spirit.

Spirituality: the inner fire of our restlessness

In ancient Greek philosophy, there was a notion that the gods fired people into existence. Contemporary theologian Ron Rolheiser builds on this idea, and on the Christian idea of human restlessness that harkens back to Saint Augustine, in his discussion of spirituality.  Deep within every person, there is a fiery energy.  Our spirituality is what we do with the interior fire of our restlessness. In Christian thought, spirituality begins within the individual, moves outward to the community, and ultimately, culminates in a sense of mission.

During the Olympics, we witness a high level of fiery energy in the dedication, determination and competitive spirit that pushes athletes onward in hopes of owning the podium.  And while the athletes command center stage, there is a bevy of people behind the scenes who assist the athlete in realizing their dream. No athlete becomes an Olympian without a community; the community plays a pivotal role in helping the athlete channel their inner fire.

While some might consider restlessness something to avoid, I think that human restlessness, when appropriately directed, is beneficial for us as individuals, and for human society. On the personal level, the fire within us can prod us towards higher levels of achievement than we might ordinarily expect to attain. And, when a group of individuals harness their collective energy in support of a shared goal they can make a difference in the world.

Olympism: Sport at the service of human dignity

Although I have no wish to idealize the Olympic movement, because like any human institution with lofty goals (including religion) it contains the potential for hypocrisy, I detect something akin to spirituality in the goal of Olympism defined in the Olympic Charter: “to place sport at the service of the harmonious development of humankind, with a view to promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity.” There may be a spiritual aspect to Olympism in the passion of the athlete, in the guidance and commitment of the community that surrounds the athlete, and in Olympism’s goal of service to the common good.

Within the last few days, there have been some inspiring stories that demonstrate the harnessing of the fiery energy of athletic competition and a willingness to serve the common good.   The sportsmanship of Canadian cross-country ski coach Justin Wadsworth who rushed to help a Russian skier, and the selflessness of speed skater Gilmore Junio who gave up his spot to teammate Denny Morrison may have nothing to do with faith or religion, per se, but there is a spirituality to these actions that reveals the inner life of the individual. 

As the 17^th century poet George Herbert observed “in sport and journey men are known.”  

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!  Here's a couple of links to some older posts:
http://faithcolouredglasses.blogspot.ca/2013/02/valentines-day-celebrates-loving-well.html
http://faithcolouredglasses.blogspot.ca/2012/02/on-love.html

"Sam, Sam the grader man" and other minor characters in the movie of my life

I hadn't thought about Sam for years. He was a minor figure in my childhood who made a lasting impression on me because of his sensitivity to kids.  When I started thinking about Sam, I began to remember other adults who briefly figured in my childhood for similar reasons.  All were unassuming, humble and kind, and they were celebrities in my mind.  Below is my recent newspaper column and Troy Media post.

"Sam, Sam the grader man" made a splash in the movie of my life

You don’t need to win an Academy Award to make a splash in the movie of someone’s life.

I was reminded of this when I read Sam’s obituary in my local paper. Sam worked in the village where I grew up and where I settled after a stint in the big city. While I quickly came to respect Sam for the precision and efficiency with which he did his job when I became a village homeowner and taxpayer, I remember him most vividly from my childhood days. 

As children, we knew Sam as “Sam, Sam the grader man”, a nickname that expressed our universal liking for the man with whom most of us had never even spoken. We called Sam “the grader man” because he operated the grater, which in those days, doubled as the snowplow.

A terrifying machine

The grader was a noisy, brute of a machine, and for some of us little kids trudging to and from school on a snowy winter’s day, the grader would have been terrifying except for Sam. After a heavy snowfall, when I heard the grader at the end of my street in the morning, I would pray that “Sam, the grader man” would be on duty that day.

When I saw Sam at the controls, I always breathed a bit easier because Sam would pull the grader with its massive and frightening blade over to the side, and pause to let us pass.  If for some reason he could not do this, he would slow down, make eye contact with us, and give us a little wave as if to say, “Don’t be afraid, don’t worry. I see you.”  Sam’s wave allayed our fears of the adult world and reassured us that our little lives mattered.

Sam was not the only grown up who made a splash as a minor actor in the movie of my childhood. Two women, each of whom left an impression on me spiritually, readily come to mind.

Two memorable women

One was my first grade catechism teacher. Class was held in her home after school, and while I remember only one lesson from that year, on Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden, I will always remember the teacher’s warmth, gentleness and kindness; her very person conveyed the idea that while our mistakes might get us kicked out of the garden, love would take us back there.

The other woman sponsored a sodality for teenage girls. We prayed around the chrome and arborite kitchen table in her home, and we discussed church teaching and moral-ethical issues. More than any specific topic, I remember our sponsor’s non-judgmental and loving approach that challenged us to expand our viewpoints, improve our relationships and nurture our souls.

The people who deserve admiration are right in front of us

In the movie of my life, Sam and these two women were like actors who make memorable cameo appearances, appearing in a scene or two before exiting the stage.  In the eyes of the viewing audience, they wouldn’t qualify for an Academy nomination let alone an Oscar, but to my childhood eyes, Sam and these women were celebrities. Their quiet, unassuming ways made a deep impression on me. They walked humbly and acted kindly and in doing so, each of them graced my childhood in their own unique fashion.

Often, as a society, we obsess over the rich and famous; yet, it is unlikely that the celebrities we fawn over will positively influence us personally in a meaningful or permanent way. More often than not, the people who touch our lives and are most deserving of our admiration are right in front of us; they are the Sams of our life, and our movie would be less without them.

The film of my life will never be “Best Picture” material. I’m hoping, though, that if I live well enough, somewhere within my daily and ordinary existence, there will be an Oscar winning performance, one small scene where I will be somebody's "Sam."

Postscript: I received an email from a reader who knew Sam, and attended his retirement party. She recollected that one of the speaker's referred to Sam as "the greater man", a fitting tribute, in my mind, to the "grader man" who made an impact on us. 

Has York University turned back the clock on gender equality?

There has been a furor over York University's decision to grant a male student an exemption from an assignment that would have required him to work with female students. When the news broke, public reaction was swift and negative.  The incident points out the intense emotion that we bring to discussions when fundamental rights (in this case, the religious rights and the rights of women) come into conflict. Below is my recent newspaper column, also published online at Troy Media, on the topic.

Has York University turned back the clock on gender equality?

Has York University turned back the clock on gender equality?  Is the university’s decision to grant a male student an exemption from a group assignment that required him to work with female students a threat to the rights of women?   While I personally consider the student’s request offensive, I am not convinced that the level of criticism aimed at York University is entirely fair.

The background

Sometime in September, a male student who was enrolled in an on-line class requested an exemption from an on-campus group assignment on the basis that his religious beliefs prevented him from intermingling with women. The course professor, Paul Grayson, denied the request and forwarded it to the Dean and the university’s Center for Human Rights, expecting to receive a “principled statement” in support of his decision. Instead, the university instructed him to accommodate the student.  Grayson stuck to his guns, refused the exemption, and the student completed the assignment without any further fuss or bother. When the student’s request to the public’s attention in January, public opinion quickly came down against the university; there is a consensus that with this exemption the university is condoning sexism.

York's explanation

The university argues that it approved the request for an exemption not for religious reasons, but rather on the nature of an on-line course. In an interview with CBC radio’s Metro Morning, Rhonda Lenton, Provost at York University, explained the determining factor in making the decision: the course was advertised as an on-line course, and there was not an expectation that students would attend on-campus sessions. Had the course been an on-campus course, Lenton believes the university would have denied the student’s request.

A customer service problem

It seems to me that the university was trying to correct a customer service problem: the course was not delivered in the manner in which it was marketed, and the university wanted to remedy the problem.  One wonders, though, why the university did not make a straightforward refusal of the request for religious accommodation, and then deal with the requirements for an on-line course as a separate matter. Combining the two things has only confounded the issue.

The university’s explanation of its decision has had little effect, if any, on the debate which has pitted religious accommodation against women’s rights. How far should a public institution go to accommodate an individual’s religious beliefs when those beliefs conflict with a societal value?  There is no easy answer, although it seems reasonable to me that a public institution would opt to resolve this type of conflict between rights on the side of inclusivity. 

Emotions influence our reaction and opinion

The public reaction to the university’s handling of the student’s request for religious accommodation illustrates the tension that arises when fundamental rights are in competition.  It is not surprising that the university finds itself at the center of an emotionally charged controversy given the high degree of importance that Canadian society places on gender equality and that individuals place on religion. Surely, the university foresaw the public reaction, and could have handled the request differently.

While I think that the university made a misstep and ‘got it wrong’, I also think that some of the criticism leveled at York has been overblown.  Emotional rhetoric, such as evidenced in Federal Justice Minister Peter Mackay’s comment, “…we did not send soldiers to Afghanistan to protect the rights of women to only see those same rights eroded here at home”, serves no useful purpose in helping Canadian society sort out the thorny issue of religious accommodation; an issue that we can expect to encounter more frequently as Canadian society becomes more diverse.

I was initially appalled that a public university would countenance this student’s request to be excused from working with women.  And while I have modified my reaction somewhat based on the university’s explanation, I still find the request unpalatable. I shudder when anyone uses religion to marginalize women, or any group of people, for that matter, and I feel very strongly about gender equality. But, I disagree that given the reasons for this exemption, York University is eroding women’s rights in Canada and promoting sexism.

We are our brother's keeper: message for the World Day of Peace

In his message for the 47th World Day of Peace, Pope Francis calls every man and woman to the universal vocation of fraternity.  

In Fraternity as the foundation of peace and as the pathway to peace, the pope speaks about the harmful effects of poverty, war, corruption, organized crime and environmental degradation on our ability to live peacefully with one another.  While the obstacles to world peace are communal in nature and difficult to overcome, the message is personal and social, realistic and hopeful.

The biblical foundations of fraternity

Francis refers to the biblical story of two brothers, Cain and Abel, to explain the concept of fraternity. In the story, Cain murders Abel, and God holds Cain accountable for his failure to care for and protect his brother.  The pope writes that the story of Cain and Abel illustrates our “profound identity and vocation” to live as brothers and sisters, even as it demonstrates our “tragic capacity to betray that calling.” Despite this capacity to ignore our identity and to deny our vocation, we have an “irrepressible longing for fraternity” which forms us into communities and peoples, and enables us to overcome differences and embrace one another.

Francis explains that the fraternal imperative to live in peace with one another resides in the transcendent fatherhood of God and in the cross of Christ.  God’s “extraordinarily concrete and personal love” for every man and woman is a powerful transformative force that leads to conversion and makes fraternity possible. 

Fraternity is difficult

Still, fraternity as the pathway to peace is difficult. As Francis realistically notes, fraternity requires “a perennial exercise of empathy, of listening to the hopes and sufferings of others, even those furthest away from me, and walking the demanding path of that love which knows how to give and spend itself freely for the good of all our brothers and sisters.”

While the basic idea of fraternity (do good to everyone) is pretty simple, I consider its implementation rather challenging. In a similar way as God called to Cain, “Where is your brother?”, fraternity calls us to take responsibility for the well being of others whether we know them, or not; like them, or not; agree with them, or not.  Fraternity makes us answerable for our brothers and sisters around the world.  To Cain’s retort to God, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”,  our answer must be “yes” if we are serious about building peace.

Our vocation to live in harmony makes demands of us that we would perhaps prefer to ignore. It requires that we step out of our comfortable lives, reassess our attitudes, and then actually do something to help overcome obstacles to peace.  We may find it difficult to relate to the realities that threaten the lives of so many people around the world, or we may become indifferent to the plight of those whom we do not know. Alternatively, if we want to help, the sheer magnitude of the problems may overwhelm us with feelings of helplessness and prevent us from taking action that will help build those pathways to peace.

Pope Francis’s message for the 47^th World Day of Peace reminds us that without a “lively awareness of relatedness” (and I believe relatedness implies action), peace will remain an unattainable dream. We begin to build pathways to peace, in our hearts, in our homes and in the world, when we act upon our vocation to cherish one another as brothers and sisters of the same human family.