The Spirit of Self-Overcoming:

Excellence in Sport and Beyond

Where does what we call the spirit of self-overcoming originate? Does it perhaps respond to a deeper, evolutionary tendency that drives the human being to unfold their capacities and to surpass their own limits?

Nature tends toward balance and harmony among its parts. There appears to be nowhere to go: any point is, at once, centre and periphery. And yet, everything seems oriented toward a movement of refinement, as though there existed a scale along which the essential quality of each being might be progressively perfected.

Beings inhabit different levels. Within each species there are degrees—of development, of intensity, of awareness. Each small cosmos is, in a sense, complete in itself; and yet everything aspires to rise toward a higher condition, as though an inner force were continually urging each being to transform, to die and be reborn, refining its nature without end.

This movement is not one of conflict. All proceeds from the Creator and tends toward return. The universe itself may be understood as a manifestation in which the impulse of return to its Origin is inscribed.

That return is inevitable. Even that which decays or dissolves is drawn back into a wider cycle. Everything, ultimately, ascends—because to ascend is to return.

And so the question arises: is there, within this process, something that might be called “competition”?

From a superficial perspective, it may appear so—as if there were a race toward the higher. But not in the ordinary human sense. Rather, what we observe is an intensification of movement: some beings advance with greater clarity, with a more vivid remembrance of their origin, and this very advance becomes a stimulus for others.

One might say that each participating particle—whatever its level—vibrates at a distinct frequency. Some more intensely than others. And this vibration, in a certain sense, is contagious: it is communicated to those nearby—and even to those far removed—prompting them to heighten their own frequency. There is no competition here in the strict sense, but rather a resonance that supports a shared ascent.

What may appear outwardly as rivalry is, inwardly, dynamic cooperation: a shared acceleration.

In this light, the Islamic tradition employs the term musābaqa, often translated as “race” or “rivalry.” As Pablo Beneito notes in his commentary on Ibn ʿArabī (The Secret of the Divine Names), it denotes a form of “spiritual competition” entirely devoid of egoic rivalry: not opposition between individuals, but a shared movement toward proximity.

Ibn ʿArabī alludes to this dynamic in his reflection on the divine attributes al-Muqaddim (The One who brings forward) and al-Muʾakhkhir (The One who delays):

“You have need of both of these attributes, so that He may place you among those who go before, among the ones brought near, and preserve you from remaining behind in this contest of precedence (musābaqa) and in drawing near to Him.”

This formulation reveals an essential nuance: advancement and delay are complementary aspects of a single process. There is no opposition between beings, but rather an ordering of states within a shared movement of approach.

In this context, it is suggestive to consider symbolic representations that attempt to visualise this process.

Diagram of “Shatranj al-ʿĀrifīn” (Chess of the Gnostics), a teaching board attributed

to the tradition of Ibn ʿArabī, representing one hundred stages of the spiritual path.

In this type of representation, the path is not linear: certain positions allow rapid advancement, while others bring about setbacks. Movement does not depend solely on the participant’s intention, but on a convergence of conditions that either favour or hinder progress.

It is significant that this representation takes the form of a board, evoking ludic or strategic structures akin to chess—or its earlier forms, such as Chaturaji—where movement, relational positioning, and timing play a decisive role.

Seen from this perspective, the notion of “race” (musābaqa) is transformed. It is no longer a matter of arriving before others, but of participating in a process in which the advance of some influences that of others within a shared field of conditions.

One may therefore speak of a “spirit of self-overcoming” only in this deeper sense: not as confrontation, but as the impulse toward inner transformation, in which others serve as mirror, stimulus, and means.

What is at stake is not victory over another, but the transformation of oneself.

At this point, an observation may be added that further illuminates the matter:

“The human struggle to advance, to succeed and to progress is the symptom of an inner and evolutionary necessity, an almost blind need, destined to express itself both in inner work and in the conventional efforts carried out in ordinary life. These are not mutually exclusive.” Sufi Texts. Precepts

This formulation makes it possible to understand that the impulse toward self-overcoming is not, in its origin, superficial or merely social, but rather the manifestation of a deeper necessity seeking expression both inwardly and through the external forms of human activity.         

Hence, practices such as sport—or, on another level, mindsports—may be understood as visible expressions of this same impulse, even when their deeper meaning is not fully conscious.

In this sense, as Idries Shah observes in The Sufis:

“In something like this spirit are carried out all competitive undertakings in sport, mountaineering, or even physical culture in other societies. The mountain or muscular development are the fixed goals, but they are not the element which is being transformed by the effort. They are the means, not the end.”

What appears to be the objective—victory, achievement, external attainment—is thus revealed as a support. The true transformation takes place within the human being.

At this point, it may be suggested that what we commonly understand as competition belongs, in part, to an earlier stage in the expression of this impulse, one in which the energy of self overcoming is still outwardly projected.

“The older vibrational patterns of competition are now like useless limbs on the human body. They are to cast away to allow new growth to emerge. The dynamics of competition allowed for a concentration of energies that assisted a certain stage of human social growth, yet they have already passed their usefulness.”                                                                                                         

Kaleb Seth Perl. A New Resonance.

Nor is this merely a symbolic reading. Traditional forms of play have embodied this principle quite explicitly. As shown in the boards studied by Andrew Topsfield, the player’s journey unfolds as a progressive ascent from lower states—associated with vice or limitation—toward higher states of realisation, culminating in a clearly defined ultimate goal.¹

Sufi gyān caupar board (19th century), in which the player progresses from lower states

toward a spiritual goal through advances and setbacks (ladders and snakes).

Such examples also reveal that progress is not stable: sudden elevations may alternate with abrupt falls, especially in the more advanced stages, where certain states—such as pride—can lead to disproportionate regression.

In this light, activities such as play, art, or sport may be understood as spaces in which this impulse becomes visible. They are not ends in themselves, but means through which faculties are activated, limitations revealed, and the movement of return facilitated.

Quaternity, in this sense, may be lived as one such space. Beyond its form as a game—or more precisely, a mindsport—it offers a field in which the interaction between participants awakens this same spirit of self-overcoming: the other is not an adversary, but an essential element in one’s own development.

From this perspective, what is often interpreted as competition is in fact only the outer expression of a deeper process: the manifestation—often unconscious—of an evolutionary tendency that drives the human being to surpass his own limits and to advance, together with others, along the path of return to his origin.

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¹ Andrew Topsfield, A Note on Sufi Snakes and Ladders, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 2022.