CHAPTER 3: THE COSMIC GAME

I know of no other manner of dealing with great tasks than as play… in this world only the play of artists and children comes and goes, builds and destroys, with an eternally even innocence and without being moralistic. 
Nietzsche  (D.L. Miller, 1970, p. 97)

The universe is a strange place and
the dice are always rolling…
Tom Robbins (1995), Skinny Legs and All (p. 280)

Einstein: I cannot believe that God would
play dice with the universe.
Bohr: Einstein, quit telling God what to do! (AIP, 2005d, online)

In "The Cosmic Game" chapter, we will consider play at its most cosmic level, looking at different cosmologies, the different stories people have told about how the universe works, and we will see where play fits into the picture.  Our major focus will be the ludic cosmologies of the East, where play is a top-down affair, and we will take a look at some gods who do play dice. Next we will consider the notion of the eternal return and see how the eternal return relates to this idea of the Cosmic Game.  We will get an ouroboric perspective and then see how the eternal return keeps on returning again and again in different places.  Then we will get a crash course on chaos theory and re-iterate what we have learned in that light.  Finally, we will consider Grof’s (2000a) Psychology of the Future, where the eternal return returns in the form of a new cartography of the psyche.