All religions and belief structures
have at their foundation a couple of concepts: retribution and reciprocity.
Whichever guides your actions has a
tremendous impact on the nature of your life.
To believe in retribution… is to
believe that personal success or failure, reward or loss, is determined by
some external power or entity that is pleased or disappointed by your
behavior and actions.
Central to retributive beliefs are
the notions of good and bad, worthy and unworthy.
A retributive universe is one which
is arbitrary and fickle, and in such a universe the path to fulfillment is to be GOOD.
To believe in reciprocity is to
believe that the universe simply responds… that it has no choice in the matter.
Central to reciprocal beliefs are the
notions of understanding and correct action.
The path to fulfillment in a
reciprocal universe is to be WISE.
It doesn't take much thinking to
realize that retributive ideas first appear in childhood, where a child's
welfare is determined by what seems to him or her as entirely capricious
circumstances.
Should this child fail to mature he
will carry these magical ideas the rest of his life, be forever dependant and
fill the role of a victim.
To retain retributive beliefs is to
retain the need for a strong parent.
As a child matures out of the
beliefs of retribution, he encounters a universe which seems to respond to him
in peculiar ways.
While at first these seem
mysterious, his task is to learn the ways of the universe and master the
actions necessary to make it respond in a desired manner.
Judeo-Christian religions believe very strongly in retribution.
You might think about the Lord's
Prayer with the above in mind if you have any doubt.
Surprisingly, Indian religions of
the Southwest are strongly based in the belief of reciprocity.
And so gaming is approached with the
idea of skill instead of luck.
Gaming gives Native Americans a
unique opportunity to practice and expand these skills.
What this all boils down to is the
realization that with Retribution supreme power resides external to ones self…
while with Reciprocity this power is created internally.
During your Hand Game play you will
have an opportunity to examine which of these two basic beliefs structures you
operate with.
Do you believe in luck… being rewarded
or punished for your virtue… or do you believe in knowledge and skill?
During the Hand Game you'll find
out.
The point of Hand Game isn't to win…
it's to become proficient at "winning"…
… it's to acquire and demonstrate
grace in the face of adversity.
One who has achieved such results
can enjoy the world and its uncertainty, perceiving it from a state of delight.
Competition recently has come to
mean being adversarial.
Understand that in Hand Game your
opponent is really your partner in a dramatic dance of learning.
And this learning is very
paradoxical.
You must care a great deal about the
outcome and at the same time not care at all.
Extend no mercy or empathy to your
opponents, expect them to be strong and valiant.
Push them as hard as you can and
hope they will do the same for you.
The night of the Shoe Game in
Arizona we weren't "cut any slack".
They didn't even explain how to play
the game.
And it wasn't because they were
heartless.
They understood that for us to learn
to play we'd have to PLAY.
Jump in with both feet and struggle.
It is often out of desperation that
we transcend our own stupidity and limitations.
Hand Game is a context for all
participants to get really "High".
There can be moments when you become
so clear, centered and certain that you feel as if you are "walking with
the gods", touched by divinity and divine yourself.
Moments when you can stare into the
smokey eyes of uncertainty, discern its structure and order it to your liking.
In that instant anxiety is replaced by
delight.
The
Structure of Delight ~by Nelson Zink (Author)
The Structure of Delight is the richest treasure
chest of teaching stories I have discovered in more than thirty years in higher
education.
It is a book that nourishes the mind, the emotions, and the soul. ~Joe Munshaw, Ph.D.
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