Apr 13-15, 2007
Begin by distinguishing between games we play to win and games we play to keep playing: the object of one is to produce winners and losers; the object of the other is to keep everyone in play. In one, we play by the rules; in the other, we play with the rules.
Take a wild ride on an intellectual rollercoaster of ideas. The track will follow game theory, but "game" doesn't only mean ‘playing,’ War in all its danger and finality is a game. Love and marriage, our relationship with nature, and the construction of our life stories are also apt subjects for game theory.
Of course, games are also fun. The speed of the ride can be exhilarating as we consider the difference between boundaries and horizons, why myths don't have meaning yet give meaning, how war is the inevitable outcome of technology, that we use automobiles not to go somewhere but to arrive somewhere; whether the genius of religion is to defeat its opponents or to incorporate them. Or this: why the silence of nature is the possibility of language.
Ideas can be difficult, but the challenge can be exciting. Not all of these mud pies will stick to the wall, but have you ever seen a kid happier than when playing in the mud? It would be helpful to read Jim's best-selling book, Finite and Infinite Games. Dr. Carse is a gifted teacher and original thinker, and this retreat will be unusual and ambitious – truly a rare opportunity to think deeply.
James Carse is Professor Emeritus of Religion at New York University, where he taught for 30 years and consistently received the university's Distinguished Teaching Award. He also wrote Death and Existence, The Silence of God, Breakfast at the Victory: the Mysticism of Ordinary Experience, and The Gospel of the Beloved Disciple. He rarely does workshops, but sometimes he can't contain his excitement with ideas and agrees to come. He lives in Rowe and New York City and is brilliant, kind, funny, and respectful of all living beings.