Rules of the Game

In one of our previous conversations we discussed the magical conception of fate and the Way. We saw that on the Way there is considerable room for manoeuvre, and the choice of how to behave — the manner and speed of following the Way — is entirely under the control of the embodied being.

This means that a person who has found their Way can and indeed should formulate the rules for themselves governing their movement along that Way.

Since, after all, the Way passes through illusion, through dreaming, a flexible and plastic medium, then, in principle, any logical and stable system of rules for moving along it has a right to exist.

Possessing sufficient Power, a Magus can quite well dictate to the world the terms of their existence. But how many Magi have fallen into this trap!

Indeed — very often the following occurs: a Magus, possessing sufficient Power (or sufficient luck) notices that the world plays by their rules. This discovery fills the Magus with megalomania and instils in them the thought of a sense of infallibility.

It seems any condition can be met.

But it is true — “life is a game”.

Everyone knows that phrase. But what lies behind it?

There are many opinions and definitions of the concept of “game”. We will call a game any form of activity in which the activity itself is more important than its result. In this, the player does not pursue the achievement of some specific goal outside the game. The value of the game is exclusively in itself, within it. The result — victory or defeat — may simply stimulate the process of the game, draw someone into it, but nevertheless one plays to play, not to win. Nevertheless, competitiveness is an essential attribute of the game; it is its driving motive, the source of its activity. One can say that life is a game with death, since the process itself is valuable, competitive, even though its outcome is predetermined.

Thus, we understand that the game is the primary form in which desire exists, since desire is valuable in itself, and its fulfillment causes it to disappear.

Just as personality is the concrete form of individuality, so the game is the form of the concrete manifestation of activity — extended existence. Just as, removing one mask after another, a being discovers that beneath all the masks there is only unformed potentiality, so, moving from one game to another, it discovers that outside the game there is only the possibility of action, but not action itself.

Although everyone thinks they can leave the game — in practice it usually turns out that there is nowhere to go, outside the game there is no life. Cosmologically, this follows from the infinity of the Absolute: since life, manifestation, is the process of actualizing potentials, its meaning seems to lie precisely in making potential actual. But the number of potentials is infinite, so any finite goal in time is unattainable; that is, the process of actualizing potentials is valuable — that is, the game.

Absolutely everyone — humans and gods alike — plays games; animals play too, and not only the young — puppies or kittens that wrestle with one another or chase their tails — but also adult animals, staging various contests and frolics, deriving from play not only training in certain skills and abilities but also simple pleasure. Ancient writers spoke of the Game between nature and civilization.

The game is a relatively free activity. It always implies a choice that only the player can make.

A very important characteristic of the game as a general notion is that every game proceeds according to certain rules. By the rules of a game we will mean the patterns of behavior players must follow in order to remain in that game.

It follows that freedom exists only before entering a game. Having entered, the player must observe certain rules; otherwise they will leave the game, which, on the scale of life, can lead to a variety of consequences, including tragic ones. Each game has its own rules. They dictate what will have authority within the time-limited world bounded by the game. The rules of the game are absolutely mandatory and not open to question.

The player is bound by certain rules within the game, and only outside it can they decide whether to cross that boundary or not, whether to enter the game’s space.

The space of each game, thus, is a separate world, for which the rules of the game are the laws of its existence.

Magi are no exception. They, like everything and everyone, play games, enjoying the process of the Way. But, unlike people, Magi, first, understand the absoluteness of the game as a form of existence, and second, discover that they can play by their own rules.

And here we encounter the question — where do the rules of the game come from? It turns out that players define these rules for themselves, and others submit to someone else’s rules or set their own strategy.

And in this Magi are no exception. They can both accept others’ rules and dictate their own. The only thing they cannot do is change the rules during the game. And it was precisely this that many tried to do, and it was precisely from this that this led to their defeat.

A Magus can choose which game to enter, can choose by which rules they will play, but having entered the game — they must observe those rules; otherwise — they will find themselves outside the game, and therefore — outside Power.

In this sense — the creation of one’s Wyrd — is the creation (or choice) of one’s game rules. In order to choose these rules effectively, one must understand participation in which game will give the greatest opportunities for fulfillment, for the acquisition of Power.

And in this light another aspect of the individuality of the Way becomes clear: the rules accepted by one may not suit another. Imposing one’s rules is also the imposition of one’s Wyrd.

Traditional instruction teaches of choosing the right games, aimed at maximizing the efficiency of the process.

And here we finally come up against what makes the Magi an exception.

Magi see that the game is as illusory as it is absolute. And, playing and following rules, Magi study the inner nature of the game to step beyond the game’s bounds while preserving themselves. This seems impossible — for outside the game there is nothing; however — and herein lies the paradox of Power — infinite possibilities are contained within that “nothing”. Magic as a current arose precisely when people noticed that there is a theoretical possibility to step outside the framework of the game, beyond illusion and dreaming, while retaining self-awareness. Since the game is the result of desire, the Magi decided that by taking the neutral origin of will and developing it for its own sake, one can break free of desire’s pull, and thus — leave the game.