As Game or Art?

Consider the game of chess.

Moves alternate between each player. During a turn, a player may move one piece. Each piece moves and captures in a certain fashion. There are some special moves, primarily castling, that allow certain pieces to move in certain different ways, but the mechanics of castling are the same for both players.

However, within the framework of these rules, a player can do whatever he wants. He can develop whatever pieces in whatever order he desires. He may play with a strategic plan in mind, or he can play haphazardly and foolishly. If he plays according to a plan, he most likely will win the game; he plays willy-nilly, he most likely will lose prematurely. And if he chooses to play with a certain plan in mind, it could be one he’s read about and studied, or it could be the result of long experience of battling opponents of varying character.

This brief discussion on the whole “algorithm” of playing the game of chess applies also to life. Now this may sound obvious to you, but I just came to an understanding of this.

There is a framework to this earthly life we’re given. There are rules. Follow them, and you’ll “succeed” depending on how well you follow them. How well depends on a whole bunch of variables: knowledge, discipline, will, energy, enthusiasm, direction, just to name the first couple that come to mind. There are twenty opening moves White can make in a game of chess. There could very well be an infinite amount of “opening moves” one can make at any given moment of your life.

For long I’ve viewed life as not necessarily as a game, but as a riddle. That’s probably why I read so much religion and philosophy: I have to know the Answer! But there are also other ways of looking at life. Why not as a work of art? Surprisingly, since I write fiction, nonfiction, and play music, I do not view life in this manner. But after some very off-the-cuff rumination, I kinda like this view.

What am I trying to say here? Not quite sure. I finished Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time a few days ago. While the fantasy / science fiction novel is aimed at a much younger audience than me, it does contain a couple of very profound observations. In one piece of dialogue she has a character compare life to a symphony. As I read it I automatically thought of the game analogy. Her character notes that in writing a symphony, there are rules, as in a game, but the rules in a symphony only serve to make the work of art more pleasing and appealing to the ear. Follow them, and you’ll succeed.

I don’t believe the analogy is unique to L’Engle. It has an Augustinian ring to my ears, but I could be wrong.

Anyway, today’s food for thought.

How’s your work of art coming?