The archetypes of golf are amazingly varied, he said, that is the reason so many people gravitate to the game.
Golf as a Journey
"A round of golf," he said in his journal notes, "partakes of the journey, and the journey is one of the central myths and signs of Western Man. It is built into his thoughts and dreams, into his genetic code. The Exodus, the Ascension, the Odyssey, the Crusades, the pilgrimages of Europe and the Voyage of Columbus, Magellan's Circumnavigation of the Globe, the Discovery of Evolution and the March of Time, getting ahead and the ladder of perfection, the exploration of space and the Inner Trip: from the beginning our Western World has been on the move. But other men have not been so concerned to get somewhere else-take the Hindus with their endless cycles of time or the Chinese Tao. Getting somewhere else is not necessarily central to the human condition."Perhaps we are so restless because like Moses we can never make it to the promised land. We tell ourselves that It is just over the next hill: just a little more time or a little more money or a little more struggle will get us there; "... even our theology depends upon that Final Day, that Eschaton when the journey will finally arrive, to compel our belief in God."
The symbol of the journey reflects our state, for man is surely on the move toward something. Many of us sense that our human race is on a tightrope, that we must keep moving or fall into the abyss. "this world is for dyin'," he said that night. We must die to the old or pay more and more for remaining where we are. Yes, there is no escaping the long march of our lives: that is part of the reason people re-enact it again and again on the golf course, my golfing teacher said. They are working out something built into their genes.
But there are other myths to govern our lives, other impulses lurking in our soul, "myths of arrival with our myths of the journey, something to tell us we are the target as well as the arrow."
So Shivas Irons would have us learn to enjoy what is while seeking our treasure of tomorrow. And-you might have guessed it-a round of golf is good for that, "... because if it is a journey, it is also a round: it always leads back to the place you started from ... golf is always a trip back to the first tee, the more you play the more you realize you are staying where you are." By playing golf, he said, "you re-enact that secret of the journey. You may even get to enjoy it."
From: Michael Murphy, Golf in the Kingdom, pp. 127-128.
Something to Ponder. A Life Connected:VEGAN
Dedicated to our memories of ...
Sierra (April 27, 1994 ~ July 2, 2006)
Cirrus (April, 1988 ~ August 16, 2006)
Mystic (April 3, 2005 ~ March 28, 2013)
Cookie Dough (August 2008 ~ May, 2015)
Snuggles (April, 2008 ~ June 1, 2023)
Willow (March 14, 2013 ~ )
Zen Taoism: A philosophy and system of religion based on the teachings of Lao-tzu in the sixth century B.C.E. It advocates preserving and restoring the Tao in the body and the cosmos through enlightenment attained by meditation, self-contemplation, and intuition.
Tao: The basic, eternal principle of the universe that transcends reality and is the source of being, non-being, and change.
Principles: Wordlessness : Selflessness : Softness : Oneness : Emptiness : Nothingness : Balance : Paradox : Non-Doing : Spontaneity : Ordinariness : Playfulness : Suchness
