Games Within Games

Sub-goals

Whenever a person commits to obtaining a particular goal, they begin a game. They play it by directing their efforts towards reaching that goal.

Often, the best way to reach a goal is to find sub-goals to focus on. Obtaining a sub-goal is a game in itself.

• For a hawk to eat a dove, it must locate one, then get itself into a position to swoop down and strike.
• Before an accountant can begin the real accountancy game of helping people with their finances, they must study and pass exams.
• To put on a shoe, we must first open the shoe wide, then slide a foot into the opening, guide the heel down into the heel cup, and fasten the laces.

Levels of play

Play often exists on a number of levels. While the hawk hunts, for instance, its heart will be playing a pumping-blood game, and muscle fibres in the heart will play a game of contracting and relaxing.

There are three levels of human play that usually need attention.

• The big picture. To navigate life’s possibilities intelligently at a big picture level, we have to see the big picture landscapes. We have to pick out where we want to go and plot a path to get there.
• The arena. All our experiencing and acting happens within the arena of a particular moment. As we pass from one arena to another, our intentions change.
• The action. Every intention conjures up a game with its own field of play. The overall game will contain sub-games, and so on, right down to the level where we actually touch the world — the level of the action.

Life on Earth

We are all part of the momentous game of life on Earth.

Long ago, a band of molecules chanced into a pattern of activity that produced copies of the molecules. A toy-making game began where the toys were themselves the players.

The game generated its own sense of purpose. It gathered momentum, streaming through time in rhythms of play that continue unbroken, with our little currents, while we’re here, a part of the flow.