SPORT
If
medieval Christians could be raised
From the
dead and then confronted
By the
amount of sporting activity which
The
contemporary world takes for granted,
They
would probably be horrified
And
quickly elect to return to their graves again!
For such
Christians would surely think
They had
been returned, in time, to
An age
of pagan physicality,
When
bodily strength counted for everything
And the
spirit, by contrast, for next-to-nothing!
For what
is this recrudescence
Of
physical competition to which
The
modern world is especially partial
If not a
kind of neo-pagan materialism,
Symptomatic
of an intensive decadence
Peculiar
to the age of the State?
Anyone
who knew anything about the atom
Could be
left in no doubt
That
neutron and electron particles
Had
conclusively triumphed over neutron wavicles
In the
establishment of an anti-natural athleticism,
The
antithetical equivalent to proton subnaturalism.
Yes,
artificial physicality has triumphed,
Whether
on the racing track or on the football field,
The golf
course or the cricket pitch,
The
The gym
floor or the ice-skating rink,
In
the swimming pool or in the boxing ring.
While
some sport is still predominantly subnatural,
And thus
literally neo-pagan, most of it
Is
artificial, and thus strictly contemporary.
But it
is all somehow symptomatic of state decadence,
And
sometimes it is no less fatalistic
Than
in the gladiatorial age of the barbaric ancients.
Mostly,
however, it is relatively harmless
From the
physical point-of-view, since
Electron
equivalents are more disposed
To
attraction than to reaction, and they
Tend to
preponderate over anachronisms.
But,
still, it all leaves something
To be
desired from a spiritual point-of-view,
And you
can take it from me
That if
the state-oriented present is ever overcome,
And a
new civilization duly developed,
There
will be far less sporting activity around
In the
future, such little as remains
Being
largely, if not exclusively, sedentary and artificial,
Requiring
no more than one player,
And
he mainly a spectator.