Playing the Game

I awoke at 4:45 this morning. It wasn't that I couldn't sleep, it was that I had slept enough. I lay abed testing this had enough theory for about fifteen minutes and then, realizing that sleep had truly departed, I stumbled about in the dark trying not to arouse Woowoo Charly and RTGFKAR from their slumbers. Gus, of course, was off the bed with me in a sleepy bound saying this is cool, maybe we're going to do something interesting. Sorry Gus.

It's three hours later and I've answered mail, read on-line news - Sox are up big in the Series, Bush is down big in the polls - and mainlined half a pot of Cafe Ruiz finest blend. I'm ready to blog. Or at least I would be if I had a topic handy.

I left a note next to our computer last night that says, "it's the playing not the winning." I had in mind writing a blog on that theme, but I've been given pause by my knowledge of The Enneagram. "Of course it's the playing" Enneagramers will say, "you are a seven." What they mean by that is that my enneagram personality type, the seven, in search of happiness, is frequently a connoisseur of fun. "If you were a three," the Enneagramers might add, "you'd be all about the winning." I think though, there's more to it than that, so I'll go ahead and blog about playing versus winning because, A. it gives me a topic and B. if I'm wrong and it's not philosophy but merely inherent personality, then no matter, it's what I think regardless of why I think it.

And here's what it is:

The thing about playing the game is this. While you are so engaged you are SO ENGAGED! That is, present in the moment. There is no world, there is no time, there is only the activity at hand. This presumes, of course, that you have chosen to participate in this activity because you enjoy it. What better feeling than being fully present for something you enjoy? The outcome of the activity, a win or a loss, pales then, because to achieve either one means the fun is over! I side with Ernie Banks who used to say, "It's a beautiful day, let's play two." This philosophy is not limited to sports and games. Any activity in life that captures your complete attention is justified by its doing rather than any outcome it may generate. And that's why I play and that's how I live. Hoisting the trophy is nice, but it's not as much fun as the getting there.

Hmmm. I really am a seven aren't I?