Playing The Game

MV Conversation Continues
Waianae Beach

Nothing more had to be said, and little had to be done. I walked up to
the store and bought some cat food. I knew this was an empty gesture,
but it was all I could do. As I put food under the car, my nausea did
not go away. As I piled the rest of the food at the base of the tree
trunk for the sick cat or any other, I felt like I was caught up in a
recycling project, a recycling of absurdity. I turned my back on the
cat and walked away, far away. When I finally sat down at another
picnic table and started reading my book, I heard: "Why do you persist?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" I said.

"If everything is, as you believe," replied MV, "all filler, then why
read books that pretend to `know why?' Isn't that being hypocritical?
If you're a product of somebody else's successes and misdeeds, a
cultural artifact, so to speak, then why do you work so damn hard at
being consistent? What for, so you can imitate a culture that for the
most part, you despise? Is that being consistent?"

"What do you want from me," I said, "If I'm going to play the game, I
need to be informed. Don't you think I ought to familiarize myself
with the playing field and the rules? Or would you deny me those
skills? Its not all rote you know, sometimes `playing the game' calls
for a little originality. Those skills can be improved you know. At
least my reading gives me a little different perspective, a
perspective, for the most part, that eludes the rest of the players."

"That sounds a bit strange to me," replied MV, "didn't I just hear
you say that there was `no footing in nothingness, no way out of
emptiness.'"

"Don't put words in my mouth," I said. "Creating angles in nothingness
is not the same as escaping from it. And, besides, there's some
freedom in recognizing `states of affairs' and responding to them.
Right? Most people don't even know they're in a game, leastwise the
absurdity of it all. Creativity is found in the power to perceive
differently, and for me, the meaningless of it all adds a little
humor, and that almost makes it worthwhile."

"Oh, and that's why you're taking up yoga," replied MV, "so you can
respond to angles with more angles?"