d the struggle for eternal life, one can clearly recognize why baseball has endured as America's national pastime.
             Before examining baseball's effect on an individual's spiritual development, one must first examine the link between personal development and spiritual development. Spiritual development, in fact, can only occur as a result of personal development. Intellectual and emotional development enhances an individual's ability to experience spirituality. A child does not possess the mental capacity to fully appreciate and explore the numerous mysteries that encompass spirituality. As an individual matures and has a greater number of experiences, he/she possesses the ability for a higher level of contemplation and introspection concerning spirituality. Recognizing this connection between spiritual development and personal development, one can observe baseball's connection to spirituality by examining the game's symbolic representation of personal development.
             Numerous facets of baseball's playing rules, structure, and strategy symbolically represent the nature of one's personal journey. The base paths, for instance, outline the nature one's personal journey undergoes. Stepping up to the plate represents birth as all things are possible before the first pitch is tossed.2 The path from home plate to first base constitutes the journey from birth to childhood. The voyage between first and second symbolizes one's passage from childhood to adolescence. Adolescence to adulthood is represented by the journey between second and third. Finally, the path between third base and home symbolizes the human journey between adulthood and death. In the game of baseball, the trip around the bases is fraught with difficulties. The obstacles a player faces when rounding bases parallels the difficulties many experience on the journey of personal development. Just as players can fail to reach base, human beings may struggle to discove...