Using an Annoying Game to Deal With Annoying Thought Patterns

Malcolm throws a wrench into the gears of the ever calculating, meritorious self-machine. In so doing, he experiences moments of sincere love. Below, his strategy is revealed. - Editor

The Game

Have you heard of “The Game”? According to Wikipedia, there are 3 rules:

1. Everyone in the world is playing The Game. (Sometimes narrowed to: “Everybody in the world who knows about The Game is playing The Game”, or alternatively, “You are always playing The Game.”) You cannot not play The Game; it does not require consent to play and you can never stop playing.
2. Whenever one thinks about The Game, one loses.
3. Losses must be announced to at least one person (either by using a statement such as “I Lost The Game” or by alternative means).

I played this for a little while in college and soon tired of it and stopped playing. Some might say that that’s not possible; nevertheless I accomplished it. I was not able, however, to stop people around me playing it. Most meals at the dining hall were punctuated by someone joyfully exclaiming, “I lost!” followed by a chorus of other “I lost”s.

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Practice

Normandy is a ceramic artist and she shares her love and insight found in working with clay. She delights in the spiritual discipline of committing to the task in her hands. She offers some photos as proof.

Clay is such a responsive material. Each choice and touch is in some way evident in the finished vessel, from its infancy as a mound of wet clay in my hand, to the finished vessel: glazed, fired, and functioning in the world. The process of making ceramic vessels by hand is rich in metaphors for ourselves and spiritual lives. Even the words potters use to describe a pot relates to our bodies: lip, foot, handle. The vessels of our lives are filled with our desires, relationships and beliefs as surely as the mug in my hand is filled with coffee. With all things, form follows function.

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