An essay on the article “The Game of Life” by Mark HarrisBhamini Nadarajan 10/02/2001

In his article, “The Game of Life”, Mark Harris brings into our focus the national

epidemic of stress, overwork and lack of time for leisure, in today’s fast-paced,

technological lives of humans; this is in contrast to “the truth” that “being human” means

“living in the moment”, “in harmony”, knowing “how to play”. He leaves the reader with

the how’s of capturing being “fully human, fully alive” “with plenty of time to laugh and

play”. He does so by illustrating the children’s world – children he says, are “the masters

of play” – and by drawing the story of 60-year-old Joe, “a man who knew how to play”.

Mark Harris strikes a chord in the reader with the wisdom of the essence of life, and he

presents it in the context of the fast-paced living, which has become the way of life for

most people, and of the necessity to recapture “the joy of play” in our lives during this

period of “automation revolution” .

Although Mark Harris’ description of zooming bikers as only “officially playing” is an

example of the modern life that we live in and experience around us, the fact that we

are continually exposed to the knowledge of the ill effects resulting from this lifestyle is,

I believe, guiding us to become more conscious of our choices about our lifestyle. During

the past decades, humanity did not know the reality of life that the technological

revolution was bringing forth. However almost everyday now we are conveyed either by

personal experiences or from external sources the reality of the problems of our lives as

well as of our planet. As a result, we have started to make efforts to identify what is

important and commit our efforts such as in, environmental preservation and cleaning,

valuing the time we spend with our children which gives them joy and holistic

approaches to health, to name a few. “The Game of Life” not only reassures us of these

efforts, but it also serves to bring an awareness to those of us who are caught up in the

rush of modern life and yet do not know it.

“We all desire happiness… Because the very purpose of life is to be happy, it is

important to discover what will bring about the greatest degree of happiness” says the

Dalai Lama in the foreword to Tara Bennet-Goleman’s “Emotional Alchemy” and

Mark Harris conveys similarly that joy is the nature of our being, whether we work or we

play, which we have to rediscover. The joy of life is inherently the same as the joy of

play. A child’s world and the world of 60-year old Joe that Mark Harris presents serve as

models for us to find ourselves in life filled with happiness, that we experience during

play. Joe found happiness not by acquiring material development and children do not

work to find happiness. Yet that is what we have found ourselves doing while we get

caught up in the rush of modern life, so much so that even our play turns into work. On

the other hand, happiness comes from living in the moment like the children do or by

living in passion and contentment as Joe did.

So what do I do to recapture joy in my life? I do not necessarily play in the familiar sense

of the term. My joy primarily comes from having made a decision to live a lifestyle that

supports my desire to have inner peace. I find joy in the combined activities that I involve

myself everyday. I even enjoy a good sleep most nights!

As a homemaker, I cook almost regularly. Not necessarily my passion though, cooking

gives me satisfaction with the gift of health and comfort it brings which I do not benefit

by eating out more often. It is also a practice that gives me a sense of preserving some of

what my mother has given me and which I can pass to my children, when I have them. I

make some good chai (variation of Indian tea with fresh ginger) and puffed bread (called

‘poori’ in South India) among other Indian dishes!

A sense of accomplishment comes from using the website, that I have created and

maintain, almost every day. It is a fairly simple site with categorical links to my favorite

sites in the web. (The website www.gbweb.net is temporarily shutdown from accessing

via the internet due to hacking, which is so common at present, on the hosted hard disk

that my husband and I share). Some of the categories I have in my site are book picks,

news/media, women, bay area guide, online shopping and holistic living to name

some of them. I also have a section of ‘selections’ from the books that I have read. I

desire to write some good articles some day and post them in gbweb.net.

To my delight, I have found that I have a passion, a constant longing, for reading

work of non-fiction. Although reading Mahatma Gandhi’s autobiography, “The Story of

My Experiments with Truth”, years back left within me a deep impression and a sense of

quest to often find something more possibly through books, I did not pursue reading

as passionately until I came across Caroline Myss’ ‘Anatomy of the Spirit’ and Gary

Zukav’s ‘The Seat of the Soul’ a couple of years back, thanks to Oprah’s shows through

which I came to know these authors. These two books have led me to engage in a journey

of reading such books that I had never imagined I would read some day! “Keep shoveling

away the dung of the world’s disbelief as you uncover the shards of purpose, peace and

pleasure that bring you joy” – Sarah Ban Breathnach in “Something More” – and reading

is a primary vehicle that helps transport me toward the place of purpose, peace and joy.

It is significant that each one of us discover “the truth of living in the moment” if we

desire to promote our well-being personally and as well as a species. And unless we

continue our efforts as in preserving the environment or changing our fast-paced lifestyle

to support our life, which is very deep, we will be unable to solve not only our national

epidemic of stress and sleep disorders but also the other health, social and planetary

concerns that we are facing today. Finding our passion and living in the moment not only

help uncover our joy and peace, but it is essential to “follow your bliss”, as

Joseph Campbell mentioned, in order to create a healthy living and a “less strife-torn

world”.