The aim of the Game is to win by rising above the other players; and to win, one must either succeed beyond the achievements of the other players, or bring better players down. And above all, the status quo must be maintained; only then is one’s place assured.

The Game has many different possible arenas. Politics exists everywhere. Institutions of science, the media, religion, and certainly government and business all play the Game in one form or another. Students play the Game in the form of popularity; politicians seek political offices as prizes; scientists aim for publication in major journals.

The Problem. The Game is ruled by other people. Other people determine whether you have won or not. Other people can make or break you. And because other people are also in the Game, even if they raise you up they are only waiting or hoping for their own chance.

Example: The Tyranny of Scientific Dogma. I have just been reading Alternative Science by Richard Milton, a thoroughly rational account of the ways in which the Game has brought down many quite valid researchers in the name of good science. Accounts abound in history: naysayers who decried such famous experiments as the light bulb and the airplane as hoaxes; censorship of and libelous accusations against research into fields like parapsychology and cold fusion; persecution of any attempts to research out of the prescribed boundaries of what journal committees call reality.

One example Milton cites, which I find particularly interesting in light of my biology professor’s unscientific criticism of astrology, involves a study done by French researchers Michel and Francoise Gauquelin, who found, among other things, a regular relationship between the birth times of sports champions and the position of Mars. He writes,

The orthodox scientific response to such claims is usually to demand more and more statistical studies. In fact the Gauquelins’ work has so far been replicated seven times, so let us for the moment accept that a prima facie case has been established by existing studies. The question then becomes: If planetary positions are correlated with some aspects of human affairs in some predictable way, why do we find this discovery so difficult to accept? … After all, the effect is no more surprising or offensive to our scientific world view than the idea that bodies attract each other at a distance in an invisible, intangible way; and it is considerably less difficult to swallow than some of the effects predicted by relativity theory, such as the slowing down of time with increasing speed. So just what is it about astrology that offends us to such an extent that we should reject the idea so forcefully?

To say that astrology is unacceptable because it is unreasonable or irrational will not do. None of the facts of science — even though they have been arrived at empirically or inductively — can claim to be rational in themselves. If it is observed in the particle accelerator (as it has been) that an electron grows in mass as it accelerates to speeds approaching that of light, then that fact by itself is neither reasonable nor unreasonable, neither rational nor irrational, it is simply so. That the effect is predicted by scientific theory does not make it a rational fact — it merely confirms that scientists are thinking along productive lines.

In my own experience, I’ve encountered individuals who demand evidence for things that I’ve been interested in, such as acupuncture and herbs. While they are completely right in seeking proof of the efficacy of a healing modality, they are often closed to the proof in the first place. It’s there to see, if you only look; if you refuse to look, then that’s not open-minded skepticism, that’s denial. And I’m not just talking about anecdotal evidence that exists for acupuncture, I’m talking about scientific studies.

It’s all muddied up by the Game. What the hell is this Game then? It’s the game that every person plays with him/herself. It’s self-importance. We like to invest our self-importance in something, preferably something that we’re good at, and then fight for it tooth and bone because it represents our self-worth, but ultimately it’s meaningless. How many Protestants in this country hate Catholics to the death, or vice versa? Not that many, but it’s a huge issue in Ireland. We have our own permutations, black vs white, fundamentalist Christian vs liberal gays, Democrats vs Republicans, rich vs poor; or one health-care modality over another, one sports team over another, one way of life over another. Heck, incandescent light bulbs vs compact fluorescents or whether the toilet seat should be left up or down.

Whatever it is, in whatever field, it’s still the same Game, and it still comes back to self-importance. “How can I get an edge up on the other guy? How can I win?”

Solution. Love yourself, and stop looking for love anywhere else.

Yeah, yeah, pretty preachy, pretty corny. I guess I’m just talking for myself. No one reads this blog anyway. But that’s what I’ve realized for myself: Love yourself and lots of problems go away. Not some of the fundamental ones, like how am I going to get food and build a home and protect my family from danger. But some pretty thorny beliefs, like: “My ability to get food and build a home and protect my family determines how good I am,” or, “If I could only reach [insert goal here], then I would win the Game.” People will fight to protect illusory beliefs like that, and for what? A few moments in the limelight, some temporary pride?

Don Juan called the world a mysterious, meaningless place; his approach to it was controlled folly: to act as if everything means something even though the opposite is true. Some people think that’s nihilistic. I interpret it to mean that if you are complete in yourself, then nothing you do can reflect on your worth as a person; therefore, all pursuits are equal, and you have complete freedom to do anything or nothing based solely on your passion for and enjoyment of life, and not on your fear of losing the Game. And nothing that happens can truly destroy you, so you are free to see the beauty in the brightest and the darkest of things.

But what do you do if you’ve removed yourself from the Game, and you don’t conform to society anymore?

Why … you live, of course.