PoolBum said:
Your first paragraph is contrary to what 'Pleasures" says though. It very much matters whether you are playing someone and in a competitive situation.
Fancher is a brilliant man, but in this matter he contradicts himself, straying from the Four-Bank Path to Enlightenment and Correct Thinking.
Fancher theorizes that we take pleasure in the small motions of pool because they exercise and refine hunting skills that were essential to our ancestors' survival: hand-eye coordination, fine motor control, depth perception, spatial awareness, concentration, etc... skills needed to sneak up on prey and put a spear into it accurately. I agree with him.
But hunting is not a
competitive activity! Our ancestors competed with each other for hunting grounds, just as pool players now compete to stay on the table. They competed with each other for
dead prey, but that was after the hunt was over. They chased the same mastodon very, very rarely, and unwillingly.
Why do I think so? Because hunting is tough enough without the additional struggles of competition. Given a choice, would you chase a mastodon with or without worrying about another hunter beating you to it, or sticking a spear in your back? Also, people were scarce back then, and they stuck to their territories. Hunters were unlikely to run into each other unless they were from the same tribe, and then they were inclined to cooperate rather than compete. Hunting is either a cooperative or solitary activity to this day.
Although competition is not part of hunting, the emotions evoked by these activities are similar. It's the similar feeling that we get from competition and the practice of hunting skills through the small motions of pool that leads us to conclude, incorrectly, that pool is competitive.
Competition is a struggle between two beings or groups to establish dominance. The competitors share that goal. Think of two male wolves "fighting" over a female. They are not trying to kill and eat each other; they are not hunting! They are competing for the same thing - the "right to breed," which is really the deference of other wolves to one's dominance over them. Hunting, in contrast, does not involve such a shared purpose.
Indeed, the purposes of hunter and prey could not be more different. A hunter strives to kill, while prey strives to live. This is not competition because there is no shared desire to dominate.
However, the act of killing is the ultimate act of dominance. Thus, hunters and competitors experience very similar emotions
when they succeed. Hence the confusion between hunting and competition.
Fancher postulates that pool players are practicing
hunting skills, not breeding skills. The pool player's prey is the object ball, not the other player. The emotional reward of "killing" every ball on the table is the same whether an opponent is present or not.
Additional and very simliar emotional reward can be had by dominating an opponent, but it is incidental and needn't be present for one to experience the pleasures of small motions.
This distinction between hunting and competition is important to pool players because one's best game can be played only with total attention to
hunting skills. A wolf does not think about mating while hunting!
This is the beginning of the Four-Bank Path to Enlightenment and Correct Thinking: pool players are hunters, not competitors.
How does the Path cover safety play? It is not uncommon for a predator to cache part of its kill for later consumption, striving to prevent others from eating it. In safety play, one caches balls in a manner designed to prevent others from pocketing/eating what you cannot immediately consume. There is a difference between the act of hunting live prey and competing for food (dead prey) by caching it. Different skills and thinking are employed. The same is true of ball-sinking vs. safety play. Pool is the practice of hunting skills. Caching is a consequence of successful hunting. This is why Zen Cueism says that every inning of pool should end with either a run-out or a safety. One either consumes all of the prey or caches some for later. It doesn't matter whether an opponent is present. The stomach tells one's mind clearly when it is full and food should be cached. But the Zen Cueist's mind must determine when it is time to play safe.
In summary, pool is the practice of hunting skills, and hunting is not a competitive activity. Competition can occur only when the hunt is over and food remains uneaten; then it is time to cache, or play safe. Fancher's book shows the Zen Cueist how to know when it's time to play safe.
that is an example from the book "pleasures of small motions" I suggest getting a copy, I have, and it really dispels all the old myths and theories about the mental side of pool.
