On Conscious States

Connecting to the spiritual dimension in tennis not only leads to better play, it also leads to a higher-order state of consciousness while you play. For some people the idea of playing tennis in a higher-order conscious state is nothing more than a bunch of double-talk that skirts the more important issues of strategy and sound biomechanics.

I could not disagree more, but it’s not my place to tell people in what conscious state they should play the game. I can, however, tell them about the different conscious states available to them when they play the game. For instance, the normal-order, gross conscious state they will experience if they use their operating system in a serial mode versus the higher-order, non-dual conscious state they will experience when they use their operating system in a parallel mode.

Quite honestly, many people could care less about their conscious state when they play the game. They would just as soon bash the ball as hard as they possibly can and feel the surge of power that comes when you hit an outright winner. Who cares about higher-order consciousness when you can have power instead?

Of course, most of the players on the planet are not in very good control of that power, so when they bash the ball as hard as they can, looking for the outright winner, they often end up watching a very powerful, outright loser. And that’s about the time they get a taste of gross consciousness.

Your normal, gross conscious state is the conscious state that accompanies your serial mode of operation. It is also the conscious state that hungers for power, craves control, yearns for approval and acceptance. Nothing wrong with your gross conscious state, mind you, it’s just not the only conscious state available to you when you play the game.

You can also choose the non-dual conscious state that accompanies your parallel mode of operation. A conscious state in which there is no hunger for power, no craving for control, no yearning for acceptance or approval because in your parallel mode of operation you are no longer playing the game for selfish, self-centered reasons.

In a parallel mode your ego gets thrown out the window and you play the game in a state of freedom from the bondage of self. You no longer play the game for your own sake, but instead you play the game for the game’s sake, and, in so doing, you gain a higher sense of self than ever before.

Playing tennis in the non-dual conscious state that accompanies your parallel mode of operation is part of playing tennis in the zone. This higher-order conscious state is not achieved by trying harder, by using sounder biomechanics, or by instigating different strategies on the court. Instead, higher consciousness is achieved by doing less, by letting go of most of what you think about out there on the court, by detaching from self and ego, by freeing your mind of the self-talk and mental chatter that sounds like a bowling alley in your head.

Higher consciousness in tennis does not require more; it requires less. But to free your mind, to get rid of the voices, to let go of self, you must first detach from the material dimension and the various elements of the material dimension that cause the mental hubbub in the first place. And to detach from the clatter of the material dimension, all you have to do is connect to the unlimited potential of the spiritual dimension.

Different connection – different conscious state. You get to choose.