Greetings proponents of naturalistic-philosophical "religions"!
I wish to introduce the concept of the counter-game to many not in the know. A counter-game is essentially in contrast to the popular mainstream game. The particular scheme that has come to dominate society is that of seeking social status and monetary gain so as to "own" as many material possessions as possible. This is the game of the mainstream, or so it would seem. I simply promote the counter-game.
The counter-game involves seeking to reconcile opposites in a game of unity. The game only exists in relation to the cultural game of dividing and segregating opposites. Day vs. night, life vs. death, good vs. evil, rich vs. poor, etc. are all a part of the mainstream cultural game. The counter-game intends to reconnect these common dualities in the actual non-dualistic reality they participate in. Let me switch to someone who could expand on it better than I.
In the words of Kenny Thornley:
"To invent ego games wherein the points to be scored are for egolessness is, therefore, to miss the spirit of what we are talking about. Having nothing to do with hierarchies, mundane or spiritual, we are not out to prove anything - except that status is nonsense, as when we lightly bestow lofty titles on one another and ordain each other Zenarchs. Our purpose is, rather, to understand ourselves, our whole beings, and to "remember" something so simple that it tends to elude classification and satisfactory definition. For that reason, it is hard to remember. Captured in this or that string of words, unconditioned and unconditional mind tends soon to become confused in our thoughts of it with the words or sentences that only indicate its possibility. Thus one day we repeat to ourselves words that may once have awakened us, only to find them hollow. Then we find ourselves no longer dealing with the miracle of ordinary existence, but with an abstraction about it - a nervous twitch enshrined idolatrously somewhere in the frontal lobe of the brain! Rote learning is impossible when what we want to remember is spontaneity in living.'
'Words are useful tools of reference. Clinging too desperately to them is like grasping our lives in fear. We shut out our perceptions that made the thing worthwhile in the first place. We become like lovers who get into a spiteful fight over which of them loves the other the most. All human activity is this way. Outward forms of religious reverence become so much more important than what religion is trying to teach, that devotees kill for them. Jesus would have to arise in every generation to denounce the scribes and Pharisees of every age for it to be any different. That was the point of the saying about new wine in old skins. Over and over, any such prophet would be crucified or stoned or lynched, besides. Objects of art suffer much the same fate. Pointing beyond the uptight concerns of the market place, they wind up objects of its calculations, investment speculations and status seeking."
Impropaganda: Zenarchy: Zen Games, Zenarchy Counter-Games (Kerry Thornley)
And so, I choose to play the counter-game.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XN15Ohevar0
I wish to introduce the concept of the counter-game to many not in the know. A counter-game is essentially in contrast to the popular mainstream game. The particular scheme that has come to dominate society is that of seeking social status and monetary gain so as to "own" as many material possessions as possible. This is the game of the mainstream, or so it would seem. I simply promote the counter-game.
The counter-game involves seeking to reconcile opposites in a game of unity. The game only exists in relation to the cultural game of dividing and segregating opposites. Day vs. night, life vs. death, good vs. evil, rich vs. poor, etc. are all a part of the mainstream cultural game. The counter-game intends to reconnect these common dualities in the actual non-dualistic reality they participate in. Let me switch to someone who could expand on it better than I.
In the words of Kenny Thornley:
"To invent ego games wherein the points to be scored are for egolessness is, therefore, to miss the spirit of what we are talking about. Having nothing to do with hierarchies, mundane or spiritual, we are not out to prove anything - except that status is nonsense, as when we lightly bestow lofty titles on one another and ordain each other Zenarchs. Our purpose is, rather, to understand ourselves, our whole beings, and to "remember" something so simple that it tends to elude classification and satisfactory definition. For that reason, it is hard to remember. Captured in this or that string of words, unconditioned and unconditional mind tends soon to become confused in our thoughts of it with the words or sentences that only indicate its possibility. Thus one day we repeat to ourselves words that may once have awakened us, only to find them hollow. Then we find ourselves no longer dealing with the miracle of ordinary existence, but with an abstraction about it - a nervous twitch enshrined idolatrously somewhere in the frontal lobe of the brain! Rote learning is impossible when what we want to remember is spontaneity in living.'
'Words are useful tools of reference. Clinging too desperately to them is like grasping our lives in fear. We shut out our perceptions that made the thing worthwhile in the first place. We become like lovers who get into a spiteful fight over which of them loves the other the most. All human activity is this way. Outward forms of religious reverence become so much more important than what religion is trying to teach, that devotees kill for them. Jesus would have to arise in every generation to denounce the scribes and Pharisees of every age for it to be any different. That was the point of the saying about new wine in old skins. Over and over, any such prophet would be crucified or stoned or lynched, besides. Objects of art suffer much the same fate. Pointing beyond the uptight concerns of the market place, they wind up objects of its calculations, investment speculations and status seeking."
Impropaganda: Zenarchy: Zen Games, Zenarchy Counter-Games (Kerry Thornley)
And so, I choose to play the counter-game.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XN15Ohevar0
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