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Sport was originally a form of discipline and training - not just of the body, but also to be a good loser and a good winner. I think we need to abandon, for th

Sport was originally a form of discipline and training - not just of the body, but also to be a good loser and a good winner. I think we need to abandon, for the most part, spectator sport, and create a social norm where people actually physically meet up weekly to play the sport of their choice at an incredibly amateur level. Imagine if every Sunday almost everyone in your community turned up to play - some people playing chess, some people playing football, some people swimming. Whatever their mind is interested in and their body can cope with. This would be completely different than the current system of sport, where those who want to do it fit it into their weekly schedule at a suitable time. One person goes to yoga on Thursday afternoon in an office building, another person rides their bike on Tuesday morning, a team meets to play netball on Wednesday. The would, of course, be permitted to do whatever they want. But there would also be an expectation. Unfortunately I don't know how to get there from here - for the time being, there's no support of anything amateur. We're basically told to be a pro or go home. Not just sport, anything and everything.

solidsnack9000 7y ago
There is a good intuition here. The arts, too, once served a primarily communal function. Most of the steps that later became the ballet are drawn from folk dancing, which at one time was common to all communities. In Tokyo sometimes, you walk through a neighborhood where the people have blocked off an intersection for circle dancing in a relatively simple style. Maybe the easiest thing to get tech people to do would be live CounterStrike. One half of the office is "guarding the VIPs", the other half is rescuing the hostages. People spend hours and hours on these kinds of games as it is. Bringing it into the real world would harness some of that engagement for health and community.
bnjms 7y ago
I didn't want to put too much forward but truly I'm interested in starting a secular church to capture new parents returning to the church. The main issue is the base organization would have to change. Sermon's would have to become a sometimes activity and we'd have to go back to the small gatherings of "Sabbath school" being the central activity... But WOW oh Wow is your insight about sport deep and well said. I think that could be the central focus of the group activity. And perhaps communal art and dance could be the primary replacement for the sermon. There's something there and I can see how focusing on sport makes the idea more palatable to people who aren't naturally open to meditation, yoga, or Buddhism.

solidsnack9000 7y ago

There is a good intuition here. The arts, too, once served a primarily communal function. Most of the steps that later became the ballet are drawn from folk dancing, which at one time was common to all communities. In Tokyo sometimes, you walk through a neighborhood where the people have blocked off an intersection for circle dancing in a relatively simple style. Maybe the easiest thing to get tech people to do would be live CounterStrike. One half of the office is "guarding the VIPs", the other half is rescuing the hostages. People spend hours and hours on these kinds of games as it is. Bringing it into the real world would harness some of that engagement for health and community.

bnjms 7y ago

I didn't want to put too much forward but truly I'm interested in starting a secular church to capture new parents returning to the church. The main issue is the base organization would have to change. Sermon's would have to become a sometimes activity and we'd have to go back to the small gatherings of "Sabbath school" being the central activity... But WOW oh Wow is your insight about sport deep and well said. I think that could be the central focus of the group activity. And perhaps communal art and dance could be the primary replacement for the sermon. There's something there and I can see how focusing on sport makes the idea more palatable to people who aren't naturally open to meditation, yoga, or Buddhism.