“Contemporary man, hypnotized by the glitter of his own gadgets, has little contact with his inner world, concerns himself with outer, not inner space. But the Master Game is played entirely in the inner world, a vast and complex territory about which men know very little. The aim of the game is full awakening…” — Robert S. de Ropp, The Master Game
What Game are you playing?
Actually, I don’t even need to ask. According to Mr de Ropp nearly all of us are playing a game outwith the Master Game.
(Now there’s a surprise.)
But in the process that leaves gaping hole in our lives, which lives under the rubric, Who am I? or some such variation. It’s more than a question though: it’s a sense always that something’s missing, be that inner peace, bliss-consciousness or a deeper, soul-felt meaning.
I know you’ll think this message repetitive — it’s as much for me as is for you poor reader — but it would be more than remiss of me to abandon a topic simply because: (a) very few people seem interested in the subject (liberation et. al.); or (b) the code is nearly impossible to crack.
Let me take things back a bit — to the beginning. If you’re anything like me, you were conditioned to believe that life was meant to be lived out according to a set a rules that were predicated almost exclusively on the capitalist model. It’s even more basic than this; namely, we’re still living according to the rules of the Industrial Revolution where most people go to work for a Boss (a gatekeeper by any other name…!), work hard for a meagre return (and I don’t mean in purely economic terms but the way we develop as human beings) and die without ever finding out who we are — work, the cold uneventful type synonymous with the Industrial Revolution, sees to that.
Of course, the capitalist model does provide a return which abets material wealth which abets episodic happiness which abets putting off asking difficult, life-affirming questions, and that’s fine for most people providing they can keep with the programme. But, in case you hadn’t noticed, we’ve now experienced a low growth economy for six or more years, we’re nearing or have reached peak stuff and the world’s ecosystem is falling apart, meaning, unless we’re stupid, that even with great gobs of money to continue with our pursuit of the dream life, we won’t be able to enjoy it without a planet to support and sustain the billions of people that inhabit it.
I know, I know, it’s all very depressing, and let’s face it neither you nor me nor a few million(?) activists are going to make a big or any difference when the Hog in Trough game (see again the Master Game by Mr de Ropp for a proper explanation of this) is being played so ardently by so many people.
I could go on, but I’m sure you get the picture.
Where does that leave us?
In our heads?
Possibly, but if we’re willing to invest at least some of energies in the Master Game, it may well be that we understand the interconnectedness of all and everything and in the process not only will we carve out more time for liberation (or some such variant, i.e. being the best version of you) but we’ll see in the process that we need everyone and everything to sustain us, physically, emotionally and spiritually.
Yes it seems hard to conceive right now — soul work is rarely easy — but even if the apogee of life was a multitude of self-realised humans, it wouldn’t be much good without a planet to support us all.
The takeaway (actually there are two):
- Go read The Master Game or something resembling it — not the dimestore pop psychology fluff but something more substantive (New Seeds of Contemplation by Thomas Merton comes to mind); and
- Stop putting off the question Who am I? — one thing I can tell you, and thank you to the Three Principles for again shining a light on this: thought is not reality; but your thoughts make your reality (see the work of Sydney Banks).