The True Meaning of “Field of Dreams”

Cubs vs Reds in Thursday’s “Field of Dreams” game may be part Iowa corn & fantasy, but baseball really is a metaphor for life & temple upon which millions have found God’s promise of, “Build it & I will come.”

Actually, the quote in the movie was “Build it & HE will come,” in reference to Kevin Costner’s Ray Kinsella hearing a prophetic voice in his Iowa corn field and interprets it to mean he’s supposed to build a ball field in his back yard & SOMEBODY will come. Many an inspirational speaker have smudged the key quote to read, “Build it and THEY will come,” as in, sell, sell, sell. But, regardless, the point is, SOMEBODY is coming if IT is built. And, I’d argue what’s really suggested by author Kinsella in his book “Shoeless Joe” upon which the movie is based, is more Biblical than even he might realize. Here’s my favorite quote from the movie uttered by James Earl Jones as Terrence Mann that arguably sheds this light on the suggested bridge between religious FAITH and human DREAMS:

“The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It’ been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But, baseball has marked the time. This field, this game, is a part of our past, Ray. It reminds us of all that once was good, and that could be good again. Oh, people will come, Ray. People will most definitely come.”

Davd Soul