When Soccer Meets With Awareness
I have received a lot of reactions to my last post on the subject of boycott on watching 2022 World Cup, some asking me to explain this choice.
So I decided to shed some light on my choice here.
Qatar
I have to admit that I didn’t know much about this country before it was chosen to host the 2022 Football World Cup.
Since then, I have learned that this small state of the Middle East is populated by only 300,000 people, and that its land is mainly made of desert.
Inhabitants are very few to practice any kind of sport, especially outdoor sports, because the climate is not favourable. Thus, there are very few sports facilities.
Therefore, for the 2022 Football World Cup, many stadiums and a lot of hotels had to be built especially for this event, among which most of them will not be used or will be used very little in the future.
On an other side, following several investigations, there is now no doubt that the awarding of this World Cup, resulting from a vote within the UEFA, was influenced by corruption.
Respect
There’s no need to be an expert to understand that the choice of holding such football event in the middle of the desert, in a country where sport is very little practised, is a total nonsense, a counter-intelligence to history, an intellectual and economic absurdity.
In view of the climate change we are experiencing today, building air-conditioned stadiums in the middle of the desert, which will be used little or not at all in the future, is not only an ineptness, but also a lack of respect towards all of us “simple” citizens.
by Chantal Guyot
Indeed, as “simple” citizens we are invited, and we try to follow these invitations, to use less plastic, to waste less food and electricity, to limit our purchases and travels, to use more public transport, etc… And thus to take our part in the collective need to reduce carbon footprint and greenhouse gas emissions, necessary for our survival, as well as for other species.
If at the same time we build air-conditioned stadiums in the desert, isn’t it like showing a lack of respect?
To boycott is to ask to be respected!
The climate aspect is imminently important, but there are other unbearable aspects.
We know today that more than 6,500 workers, mainly immigrants, have lost their lives in the construction of the infrastructures and hotels necessary for this event.
We also know that the most basic rights, such as the lives of LGBT minorities, are not respected by the laws of Qatar.
To boycott is to demand respect for all lives!
It would of course be an illusion to believe that boycotting would prevent this event from taking place, as it has been decided and planned for a long time.
This idea of boycotting is not intended to prevent the 2022 Cup from taking place, or even to disrupt its progress, but to show our disagreement with the very principle of such projects so that such ineptness will not happen again in the future.
The power of not speaking out
What can I do to prevent such a mistake, such an injustice, such a lack of respect from happening again?
Of course, I can feel here that my anger is again triggered by injustice… Something irrational. Something emotional! But I am fully aware of it.
Acting, speaking out…
“Say nothing, is consenting” says the proverb.
It is not easy to go against the dominant thinking, to walk out of mainstream ways of thinking. I know, because I have experienced it, I know that there is a risk, a risk of being of being mocked, rejected, sidelined, even insulted.
Indeed it needs courage.
If we don’t watch the matches, nor the programmes in regards to the Cup, it will bring less advertising revenue to the sponsors. An event like this cannot exist without the help of the sponsors who finance most of it. This is where our power lies!
Not to watch, on our television, nor on our computers, nor on our cellphones is to show our disagreement. A simple and inexpensive gesture that can prove to be an effective weapon.
The economic stakes are so high that the next time they have to vote, decision-makers will undoubtedly think about it twice.
Boycotting is about bringing our opinion forward!
I don’t know if my action will change the world, but it is certain that doing nothing will not change it.
More than just politics
Individually we have something to gain as well.
In one way or another, we all think we are different or wish to be treated as a singular being, and be recognised as unique.
But do we act differently from others or from the mass?
Can we be unique when we act like the majority? Or when we accept the dominant and mainstream thinking?
Recent scientific discoveries on mirror neurons teach us that a mimetic functioning is deeply embedded in our brain. So, it is probably not easy to get out of this inherent human functioning, but is it an excuse?
Unlike most animals, we have a highly developed frontal cortex that allows us to act on and against our natural impulses.
To those who tell me that boycotting is pointless, I can simply answer: “What is the point of watching the games? Can it make you happier? Can it improve your daily or personal life? Personally, I don’t see how.
But what I can’t forget is that 6,500 people died to build stadiums and hotels, by people with very little money for people with a lot of money.
Watching the matches will give me some pleasant emotions, perhaps give me some joy, but what is that compared to the pain of the families of those people who died doing their job? Of course, for most of us, we are obviously not directly guilty for these misfortunes. We are not guilty, but we have some responsibilities.
I take this intellectual awareness as a wake-up call to my consciousness as a human being. A way of looking at the world outside the mainstream thinking: because it only happens every 4 years, I have to watch ? Because everyone is watching, I have to watch?
What is this societal proposal? To emancipate us or to force us into a mould of thoughts and actions, necessary not for our individual well-being but for the survival of a system.
An experience that brings me face to face with my own difficulty in thinking and acting freely, unhindered by the judgments of others.
From intellect to biology
So there is an intellectual interest in this approach. But there is also a biological interest, a mental health interest.
Once again, neuroscience confirms that using and exercising our thinking system helps not only to maintain, but also to create new neural networks, and this throughout our lives.
It has also been shown that learning and working with our brain in different and new contexts and situations helps to slow down the development of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s, and that a depleted brain leads to weakening our general immune system.
It is therefore recommended that we continue to exercise our brain throughout our lives, just as we do with our muscles.
Awakening and consciousness, a gymnastic
To exercise the brain is about to NOT let its most primitive, called the striatum, to take over, striving for more and more pleasure again and again. This part of the brain is wired for this intention and cannot be changed.
In previous articles and presentations, I have already spoken about how important a circuit of the brain, called the reward system or pleasure circuit, is for our survival as a species, and moreover how it affects our individual behaviour. This functioning is said to be ‘automatic and prevalent’.
Although necessary in some respects, it misleads us in many circumstances.
Pleasure is related to desire.
From desire comes pleasure.
But is our desire really our own? Isn’t it influenced by the environment we are in? The discovery of mirror neurons by Giacomo Rizzolatti is very enlightening in this respect, while in other respects quite frightening.
Let’s take an example that you all might have experienced, if you like to pay attention to what you do unconsciously and uncontrollably. Imagine that you were walking down the street and you happened to pass a cake shop. One second before you were not feeling hungry, but suddenly as soon as you see the window of the cake shop, the urge and desire to eat a cake arises.
Is this desire really your own?
We can experience something similar in numerous occasions, like when when we watch advertisements.
Then comes a first question is: do I give in to this desire for the pleasure of eating a delicious sweet cake, or do I have the power to resist?
A second and deeper question is: how do I recognise my own personal and true desires?
The only solution is to stay available to the experience of awareness. First by recognising that our ‘automatic’ mode is turned ‘ON’, then by switching it to ‘OFF’, and making new choice with full awareness.
In this spiritual experience, we are no longer a robot driven by our primitive brain, but we acting as a human being full of dignity.
I intentionally let the first days of the World Cup pass before writing this article, because I wanted to have my own experience.
Normally I like to read the news, including sports news. Even though I am not a football game lover, I particularly like to read about the technical and psychological aspects of this high-level sport. On several occasions since the beginning of the Cup, I felt the need to read articles about the results of the competition, and I must admit that to stop me from clicking on related links on my phone, that would surely satisfy my curiosity and therefore my pleasure, was not easy and took me some effort. But what surprised me the most were the feelings of peace and satisfaction that came afterwards, from this action of not being subjected to it.
Boycotting is therefore a political act, but it is also an opportunity to question our deepest desires and our relationship to pleasure, to stay ready for awareness.
