Keeping your eye on the ball
There's an expression widely used in Australia
‘To keep your eye on the ball’, or sometimes when somebody messes up it’s said
that he took his eye off the ball. This is a very succinct expression. Most
people are aware that in order to catch a ball you have to concentrate on the
ball, not on the mechanics of catching it. This is a good analogy for life in
general.
Many new-age authors talk about goal setting. This takes a number of forms but
one of them is to write down where you want to be in life in one year’s time.
Once this has been written down you put it away in safe place and don't bring
it out until the year is up. Some years ago I went to visit the grave of Rabbi
Menachem Mendel Schneerson in New York. On entry we were invited to write down
something that we desired from the Rabbi. This was written on a piece of paper
and then the paper was torn up and the pieces thrown over the grave. The idea
behind both of these is similar to the idea of casting your problems on the
water. When you write down the desire you concentrate on it intently, then you
leave it alone or throw the problem onto the Rabbi – you put yourself into the
hands of God.
The important point here is that you don't concentrate on the mechanics of resolving
the problem. This isn't to say that you can spend the rest of the time laying
bed, you have to maintain an awareness of the goals, but you trust in God to
achieve them. As Mohammad said ‘trust in God – but tie your camel first’.
I've mentioned before (‘The Bible Story’) that prayers will get answered. There
are some provisos to this: you can’t give a time. The prayer will get answered
in its own time. The second is that you can’t lay down conditions. The prayer
will get answered in its own way. This is why may fairy stories talk about people
who have a wish, or three wishes, and the wishes backfire against the person.
I've explained this previously (‘Doing What is Good’).
On a more mundane level, keeping your eye on the ball is a good picture to hold
on to. If you want to build up a company then keep focused on how you want the
company to be. If you are writing a book or making a movie, keep the picture
of what the book or movie is to look like in your head. You will achieve what
you want but the more important first step is to clear out your character traits
so that when you do achieve what you want it is good for you.
"For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" (Mark 8:36).
