Philosophical Poker

I once heard that there is a special place in hell for those who “break things” and I naturally thought it referred to holy laws and commandments, but now I’m not so sure.

At a guru convention, I heard one proudly announce that his followers had just bought him an expensive new stallion.  Then another said that was nothing; his followers, said he, had just presented him with a team of such steeds along with a golden chariot.  Yet another one said, “Hah, my followers just delivered to me a new Rolls Royce.”  I butted into the conversation and mentioned to them that some such men simply walked to work.  Well, boy, did they ever have a laugh over that.  They laughed and laughed.  (I laughed too some later ‘cause I didn’t really know anyone like that.)

Not only is there a Song-Of-Life, but amidst this Great Journey there is the Noise-Of-The-Search.  (And you sometimes wonder at the apparent chaos.)

     Some years back, in a poker game, I took the opportunity to ask Moses exactly what he meant by his term, “The Promised Land,” and he said that because of the prevailing circumstances, you would have really had to have been there to properly understand his intent. 

     A little while later, I caught Buddha’s ear and asked him if his teaching of a state of being “Blown Away” was in any way similar to Moses’ idea of the Promised Land, and he leaned over and told me not to confuse allegory with real estate.  Later, during a lull in the game, I asked Jesus if his teaching of the “Kingdom of God” referred to an internal state, or an actual location.  He paused, smiled at me over his cards and said, “Kings high call.”

     After the game was over, I found Socrates sitting on the curb outside, and I told him of my somewhat unsatisfying conversations with his friends, and he said, “Yeah, I used to try and talk to them like that; they’ve stopped even asking me to their games.”  And I said, “Because of such intellectual inquiry?’  And he said, “Yeah, that and I owe ‘em all money.”

J.