LAST YEAR'S MOVIE For the Love of the Game takes place during a baseball game where the star pitcher has found himself in "the Zone" and is pitching a perfect game to end his career. In the dugout, his teammates won't even sit next to him for fear of interrupting his mental balance aqnd taking him out of "the Zone." At different points during the game, the pitcher tells himself to "clear the mechanism"—a mental discipline to block out the distractions of the crowd and players. Then from the pitcher's perspective, the loud roar of the stadium just fades to silence.
Personal will, self-consciousness, and self-importance hinder concentration and excellence.
While Hollywood's depiction of "the Zone" may primarily show an exercise in willpower, it has been a helpful image to me of what it feels like to allow only God's "still small voice" to permeate my consciousness. See I Kings 19 . Spiritual communing is not willpower. It's putting aside personal will, self-consciousness, and self-importance, which only hinder concentration and excellence.
