Here’s the update about the puzzle.
But first, let’s get a little lofty and quote Søren Kierkegaard:
Life is not a problem to be solved,
but a reality to experience.”
Thus…
Here’s where we started last Sunday…
And here’s where we finished…
It’s true that the chattiest memberof our party suggested a “short break,” ostensibly to draw Tarot cards from a beautiful new deck designed by Salvador Dali just lovingly gifted to me by her.
(Note: that “short break” took 1.5 hours).
To be honest, I am deeply disturbed that none of us could find the central pieces of Mt. Fuji.
(They have their own distinctive color and they seem to have vanished.)
So YES, as of this writing, the puzzle is not done.
Yet nonetheless, I view the Puzzle Party as an Unequivocal Triumph.
It’s true that I remain both enthusiastic and serene about the puzzle’s inevitable completion.
We do have time…and perhaps more importantly, I’ve learned that finishing was never the point in the first place.
There’s a terrific video where the British philosopher Alan Watts essentially makes this point.
In it he says:
“The existence, the physical universe is basically playful.
There is no necessity for it whatsoever.
It isn’t going anywhere. That is to say, it doesn’t have some destination that it ought to arrive at.
But that it is best understood by the analogy with music.
Because music, as an art form is essentially playful.
We say, ‘You play the piano’ You don’t ‘work the piano.’
Why? Music differs from say, travel.
When you travel you are trying to get somewhere.
In music, though, one doesn’t make the end of a composition, the point of the composition.
If that were so, the best conductors would be those who played fastest.
And there would be composers who only wrote finales.
People would go to a concert just to hear one crackling chord… because that’s the end!
Same way with dancing.
You don’t aim at a particular spot in the room because that’s where you will arrive.
The whole point of the dancing is the dance.”
The person I know who got this more than anyone was, of course, my chocolate lab Belle.
As I wrote in my book Upward Dog (you can download a copy as my gift HERE if you like):
“At the very heart of yoga lies the concept of Lila (pronounced “Leela”) which literally means “pastime, “sport,” or as it’s most commonly translated, “play.”
For yogis, Lila defines our universe as the outcome of the creative play of the Divine (or God or Source or even Brahma—feel free to pick your own term).
Simply stated, the Divine created the universe as a vast cosmic playground, and we’re pretty much here for the fun of playing on it.
Why play? Surely there’s got to be more of a point to our existence.
It seems ridiculous to actually think that the vast universe is constructed as a cosmic game, a vast and eternal Disneyland where the Divine explores all possible experiences.
Has the entire cosmos really been created just so Belle and I can toss a Frisbee on the beach?
We are so conditioned to think that either things are broken and we are here to fix them, or that we are broken ourselves and must be redeemed/saved/improved.
Lila, on the other hand, is never driven by goals or towards an outcome.
Lila is what motivates Belle’s splashing around the ocean for the sheer joy of it.
Like Frisbee Fetch on the beach, it flies in the very face of our notion that we’ve got to get something accomplished and/or get some mess straightened out.
(2021 sidebar addition: Or finish a jigsaw puzzle).
I lose touch with Lila all the time, lapsing into a work-oriented, “gotta fix things” mentality.
My “To Do” list inflates to grandiose proportions, and I begin describing myself as a workaholic, almost as though I’ve won a merit badge.
When I go astray like this, I’m always looking for ways to get back in synch.
Perhaps the quickest cure I’ve discovered is to find someone who’s fully connected to this energy — like Belle or a toddler — and watch them play.
It’s ironic to think that I, the human — and allegedly the “master” in this relationship — literally feel chained to my desk whereas Belle can only and endlessly celebrate her freedom.
Of course, one glance at Belle having fun does not always produce “instant cosmic realignment.”
In fact, as is often the case, if I’m feeling particularly disconnected and she keeps dropping a toy into my lap while I’m trying to write — like right now, for example — I travel further from the connected spirit of play.
As I say, I’m lucky. Belle’s constantly on call to teach me how one can indulge in Lila.
If I don’t resist, she’s more than happy to remind me — through the magic of play —about the universe’s one rule (according to the Sufi poet Hafiz): HAVE FUN.”
Since I no longer have Belle with me in the physical,it seems I have to craft my own reminders of these lessons.
I confess to often feeling very far removed from the spirit of play.
After all, it takes two to play Frisbee Fetch on the beach.
And yes, I often wonder if the pieces needed to complete Mt. Fuji––whether always missing from the puzzle box or lost somewhere along the way––will ever be found.
Then I remind myself, again and again, the point of the puzzle is not its completion…the whole point of dancing is the dance…
Namaste for Now,
