Everything I’ve Learned About Life and Letting Go, I Have Learned From Mah Jong
Everything I know I’ve learned from Mah Jong. As I learn new things, or remember lessons already learned, they may be listed here.
Each new board is a form of new incarnation with the same elements in an infinite variety of new configurations.
When it’s over, it’s over. Then the lesson is to LET GO! No trying to replay that last match, no regrets about those tactical errors, no regrets about ANYTHING! Drop that hot potato and let it fall into the Infinity of All Possibility.
Here’s something I sometimes like to think: There is a God of Mah Jong who sets up the boards, and who CARES about the outcomes. Or maybe there is a Devil of Mah Jong who is sloppy and careless, who throws the tiles down in a haphazard but sly mess and says to me, “Go knock yourself out, sucker.”
There are few real rules; those, however, are unbreakable.
Sometimes, when It lets me clear the board, the next board up will have a fresh and humorous quality, as if the game is smiling at me.
When the quality of play (life) becomes too difficult, I opt for a new board (new life). In other words, I suicide. I read somewhere that all death is suicide. I agree with that statement.
The board is always attempting to upsell me, to prod me into the next more-difficult level of play. It also ups the ante of the game in order to fend off boredom. In organic life we call that evolution.
If the board gets cleared, there is satisfaction in that. The joy is in the play.
The finite game is played to establish a winner and a loser. The infinite game is played in order to continue play.
There is no scarcity of boards. There is an infinity of boards (lives), and an infinity of configurations.
Taking care of business now IS providing for the future.
The board teaches me to cope with the unexpected within the field of the familiar.
Death of the body often occurs suddenly, and appears irrevocable.
While it is possible to make a tactical error, it is not possible to make an actual error; this is because all tiles arrive in pairs, so if there is one there is another with which to achieve completion. The Mah Jong board is a series of completions, either actual or potential. You may die, but you never die alone.
The top and the bottom lines control the board, and contain all the action between them.
Each board has its own personality or vibe.
The Player will never get it all done (complete all the boards).