The Simplicity of a Bowling Philosophy

Avery - brunswick, Georgia
Entered on February 6, 2009
Age Group: Under 18
Themes: sports
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I believe in bowling. After playing for many years, I am able to visualize my life philosophy through bowling. I imagine life as a bowling lane turned on its side so that it is vertical. I imagine that I am the bowling ball, the bowler is my mindset, the pins are my goals, and the gutters are disaster areas.

In bowling, the ball is the center of the game, much like the protagonist of a story. I imagine myself as the ball. The object of the ball is to hit the pins (my goals) and attempt to stay out of the gutters (disaster zones). The bowling ball is the focus of bowling, much like I am the center of my own life.

The bowler represents my mindset. Much like the bowler must decide where the ball should go, my mindset determines what I aim for, in terms of my goals in life. As I earlier explained, I imagine the bowling lane is sideways, or vertical. This helps to better explain how the bowler represents my mindset. If the bowler aims too low, the ball will fall into the gutter. For instance, if I believe I won’t do well, I will fall into disaster. However, if the bowler aims too high, the ball will also go into the gutter, much like if I aim too high and my head is in the clouds, I might go into the disaster zone. But if both the bowler and I aim a straight course, we will reach our goals.

The pins in this analogy are my goals. The more pins a bowler hits, the higher the score. The straighter my path to my goals, the more goals I reach. Much like the ball can be affected by oil and spin, the straightness of my life path can be affected by sin. The more sin I have, the further off course my life goes towards the disaster zones. The further off course my life bowling ball goes, the less likely it will reach many goal pins.

The final key factor in my bowling life metaphor is the disaster zone gutters. In life there are disaster areas that I can fall into if I do not have the right mindset. The gutters represent these disaster zones, which can include depression, apathy, failed expectations, and poor work ethic. In bowling, if the bowler aims too far left or right, the ball will go in to the gutter. In life if I aim too low or too high, or if I sin greatly, I will fall into the disaster zones.

I believe in bowling not as its own philosophy, but as a way to explain my philosophy on life. The simplicity of bowling, sending an object on a straight course towards a goal without falling into the gutters, greatly reflects my philosophical mindset.