Out Like A Lamb: March 2014

Astral Facts, March 2014

Out Like a Lamb

Astral: (Theosophy) Consisting of, belonging to, or designating, a kind of supersensible substance alleged to be next above the tangible world in refinement; as, astral spirits; astral bodies of persons; astral current.

Out Like a Lamb

We’re well into April now, in the throes of the aftermath of March and the intensity of March Madness.  In the astral attitude of interdisciplinary shared governance, we can do some math after the aftermath of the official March Madness as it relates to the astral nature of the college experience.

During this time each year, attention is drawn to the “brackets” as people make their predictions for the 63 games played among the 64 teams selected in the NCAA National Basketball Tournament.  (Actually, it was 68 this year, for four games, referred to as the “first four,” were played prior to the actual tournament start.)  This is a national phenomenon, and each year President Obama has a special presentation as he reveals his selections, from his predictions of the winners of the 32 games in the first round, to his prediction of the regional winners ending up at the touted “final four” leading to the national champion in that 63^rd game.

The selection of the 64 teams and their positioning was announced on Sunday afternoon , March 16^th (referred to as “Selection Sunday”), and the first of the 63 games began around noon, PDT on Thursday, March 20^th.  ESPN announced that in those three and one-half days more than 11,000,000 online brackets were submitted on the Tournament Challenge website.

While the ObamaCare online registration might be a bit more complicated, during the six-month window of availability, 7,000,000 people were able to sign up, which is being regarded as a great victory, but that is only 63% of the number of brackets filled out on the ESPN website in only 3.5 days!  (In addition, millions of other brackets were filled out through other sports affiliated websites such as CBSSports.com and NCAA.com, as well as local contests run by The Seattle Times [Hoops Hysteria]).

For those concerned about revenue stream, consider this:  The last minute basket made by the University of Kentucky’s Aaron Harrison to beat Michigan not only sent his school to the Final Four – it sent the Kentucky coaches to the bank, for they earned a total of nearly $330,000 in added salary incentives by reaching that stage in the tournament!

The downside to the revenue stream seems to come from the tangential loss of productivity accompanying the distractions offered during the first few rounds of the tournament, for offices are abuzz with March Madness distractions.  Recent research revealed that nearly 4,000,000 hours of productivity is lost during this short span of time, which caused some companies to inflict severe penalties on workers caught being distracted due to the games.  (Some of the websites such as ESPN.com and CBSSports.com have a “boss button” link that workers can click on if a supervisor is in the vicinity.  This opens to an intricate Exel spreadsheet to hide the bracket views.)  However, subsequent research has indicated that the increased productivity in later months more than doubles any lost productivity due to the  resulting “camaraderie” created as workers commiserated over the agonies of busted brackets and ecstasies of “Cinderella” teams fighting their way through the bracketed jungles.  Those bonds have brought prolonged attitudes of cooperation and collaboration, even if “their” teams were eliminated early in the sequence.

Thus, we recognize this in the Humanities Sciences as well, for NPR (National Public Radio) has reported about New York’s New Victory Theater’s  Shakespeare bracket for the Ides of March Madness, pitting Shakespeare’s plays and characters against each other.  If you want to follow the progress, here is the link where the Final Four has Hamlet facing off against Henry V and Much Ado About Nothing matched against  The Merchant of Venice: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/03/30/296819698/the-ides-of-march-madness-who-s-gonna-stop-prospero?utm_medium=Email&utm_source=share&utm_campaign=storyshare  The results are all based on public voting through the website. 

In other words, beyond the external aspects of sports, we can find an inner astral essence at work.  As Prince Ghazi bin Muhammed has noted in his book The Sacred Origin of Sports and Culture, as far back as history has recorded, sports were considered to be a connection between humans and the divine, most obviously shown in the roots of the Olympic Games, where sporting events were consecrated to a variety of gods (who resided in Mt. Olympus, thus the name of the events).  As bin Muhammed notes, this was paralleled among the ancient Romans as well,

In classical antiquity games (ludi) had a sacred character and therefore became typical expressions of the traditional path of action.  ‘Ludorum primuminitium procurandis religionibus datem,” wrote Livy.  It was considered dangerous to neglect the sacred games (negligera sacra certamina); thus, if the state’s funds were depleted, the games were simplified but never suppressed…. The ritual slaying of the victorious horse, which was consecrated to Mars, should be connected to the general idea of “sacrifice”; it seems that the force that was consequently unleashed was for the most part directed by the Romans to increase the crops in an occult fashion, ad frugumeventum.  (Julius Evola qtd. in bin Muhammed 63-64)

In other words, it increased the flow of the revenue stream externally while solidifying the astral “revenue stream” between humans and the divine.

Consider this reference to sport representing the course of human life as explained by the Native American Chief Black Elk, extracted from Black Elk Speaks,

There was , until recently, a game among our people which was played with a ball, four teams and four goals which were set up at four corners.  But there are only a few of us today that understand why the game is sacred, or what the game originally was long ago, when it was not really a game, but one of our most important rites….. 

            The game as it is played today represents the course of a man’s life, which should be spent in trying to get the ball, for the ball represents Wakan-Tanka, or the [Sacred] Universe [i.e. heaven], as I shall explain later.  In the game it is very difficult to get the ball, for the odds – which represent ignorance – are against you, and it is only one or two of the teams who are able to get the ball and score with it.  But in the original rite everybody was able to have the ball, and if you think about what the ball represents, you will see that there is much truth in it.  (qtd. in bin Muhammed 71-72)

Perhaps we can see the similar dichotomy in our contemporary culture when considering the view of Vince Lombari, who is credited with saying, “Winning isn’t the only thing; it is everything!”and “If winning isn’t everything, why do they keep score?”  So much for "the love of the game!"

In comparison, note Grantland Rice’s observation, “It’s not whether you win or lose; it is how you play the game that counts.”  This offers insight into how the Seahawks’ Super Bowl XL loss against Pittsburgh brought the community together and continued fair play recently in Super Bowl XLVIII has brought bonds even tighter as the community proclaimed “I’m In!”  We can still see vehicles driving around with "12" flags flying.

Since we are actually into April as March Madness has gone out like a lamb for most of us, and April is national poetry month, here’s a posting from Manvotional, which probably should be called Humanvotional, substituting “human” for “man”:

         Playing The Game

Life is a game with a glorious prize,

If we can only play it right.

It is give and take, build and break,

And often it ends in a fight;

But he surely wins who honestly tries

(Regardless of wealth or fame),

He can never despair who plays it fair

How are you playing the game?

Do you wilt and whine, if you fail to win

In the manner you think you’re due?

Do you sneer at the man in case that he can

And does, do better than you?

Do you take your rebuffs with a knowing grin?

Do you laugh tho’ you pull up lame?

Does your faith hold true when the whole world’s blue?

How are you playing the game?

Get into the thick of it – wade in, boys!

Whatever your cherished goal;

Brace up your will till your pulses thrill,

And you dare to your very soul!

Do something more than make a noise;

Let your purpose leap into flame

As you plunge with a cry, “I shall do or die,”

Then you will be playing the game.

Walter Lowe
Astral Facts is a somewhat regular presentation of Humanities Science, produced in the bowels of the Humanities Science offices during the academic year.