There's no shortage of proposed solutions to the predicaments we're in
- both interpersonal as well as intrapersonal ones. Turn on any
TV or radio news channel or
open any newspaper or magazine,
and notice the veritable plethora of
talking heads
and pundits (and in this regard, consider anyone who's overly invested
in their own
opinion
of what will solve the problem, to be a pundit) of varying political,
sectarian, religious, and ideological persuasions. In the
self-help section of any good brick-and-mortar bookstore
or online, there's a blizzard of advice for fixing,
changing, improving, managing, or simply getting by with
the lives we have.
Like enthusiastically adopted then forgotten new year's resolutions,
most of those solutions will invariably fail to work. But look: that's
not new. We already know that. We've actually proved it - over and over
again - and yet we remain convinced that if we try
the same old same
old
solutions again ie if we try them just one more time, only
this time if we try them more or if we try them better or
if we try them
different,
they'll work.
Imagine
you're a pretty decent Bridge player and you accept an invitation to
play with a new social group in your neighborhood, and less than ten
minutes into the game, you realize it's become a bit weird ie it's not
unfolding like your usual Bridge game ... and you're not sure why.
Finally you figure it out: the other players are playing the game by
the
rules
of Gin Rummy, believing them to be the
rules
of Bridge. No wonder the game isn't working.
Now
imagine
you're a pretty decent Monopoly player and you accept an invitation to
play with a new social group in your neighborhood, and less than ten
minutes into the game, you realize it's become a bit weird ie it's not
unfolding like your usual Monopoly game ... and you're not sure why.
Finally you figure it out: the other players are playing the game by
the
rules
of Snakes and Ladders, believing them to be the
rules
of Monopoly. No wonder the game isn't working.
Look: while it may seem so, that's not a far-fetched
analogy
for how we live life. Moreover, what it points to isn't local or
limited: it's universal and unlimited. Neither is this
analogy
only applicable to how we live life today: it's a match for how we've
lived throughout recorded history. The way we play the game of life in
the world,
is we play by a
set of rules
that don't apply to the game we're
in. Is it any wonder things look the way they look? Is it any
wonder the game has become a bit weird?
I assert that without
mastering
the distinctions of
transformation,
we'll never identify the essential problem - which is
(simply and
tersely
stated) that we live in
the world
created / caused by meanings we give to a meaningless life. Say
whut? Give meanings? To a meaningless
life? Do you get it? Until we recognize this and take
responsibility for it and address it full-on and head-on, I'm sorry but
not much is going to change except the flavor-of-the-month
latest predicament on
TV and the radio and the
front pages of the newspapers and magazines,
no matter how hard we try
the same old same old
solutions again, more, better, and
different.
You can't play Bridge by the
rules
of Gin Rummy. You can't play Monopoly by the
rules
of Snakes and Ladders. Like that, you can't make
the world
work (or your life work) and / or succeed, by playing by the meanings
we give to a meaningless life. And yet, oh my
God!
how hard we try to do exactly that! And how we fail - over and over
again - for which, if we tell the truth about it, there's ample proof.
Yet we keep on doing exactly the same thing - over and over again -
expecting
different
results each time - which, for Rita Mae Brown, epitomizes insanity
(just look around you: there's compelling evidence he's bang on the
money - no kidding!).