I like Go. I am hardly good at it but I like it. Go is called the Asian chess even though the things in common are way fewer then the differences. Yes, it’s a board game. Yes, it’s played by two players who alternately place playing pieces on the board. And yes, the playing pieces are black and white. But I think that’s already it. The playing pieces in Go are not distinct, are called stones and look like lentils. The board is not 8×8 but usually 19×19 (the size and shape can basically be chosen freely) and the stones are not placed on the squares but on the intersections of a line grid. Black starts and so on. The list would be a bit longer still. But the remarkable thing about Go is that is has (contrary to chess) essentially only two rules (besides the order of play and scoring rules):
- A stone or a group of stones must have at least one liberty (one neighboring open intersection) or are captured by the opponent.
- Don’t recreate a situation that was previously on the board to prevent an endless loop. (The famous ko-rule)
Everything else can be concluded from these two rules. Needless to say that the game is a lot more complicated then the simplicity of the rules indicates. Can I prevent my stones from being captured indefinite? And how? Can I use the ko-rule to guide the game? And how do I dominate my opponent on such a big board? Just to mention a few questions. It is so complex that no computer in the world could hope to win against a master Go player (yet). While in chess computers now play computers because playing against humans became boring. The Go rules are so simple and somewhat obvious, that Edward Lasker, a chess Grandmaster and one of the “fathers” of Go in the US, said:
“While the Baroque rules of Chess could only have been created by humans, the rules of Go are so elegant, organic, and rigorously logical that if intelligent life forms exist elsewhere in the universe, they almost certainly play Go.”
There is a similar rule for human interaction that is so simple and obvious that every religion or philosophy has it as a fundamental rule in some form or another. Treat people the way you want them to treat you. That is the golden rule. Jesus, by saying “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 7:12, ESV), not only stated that rule but proclaimed that it is the essence of the entire Old Testament. (What a book summary!) And that already hints towards its depth. Like Go this is “A few moments to learn, a lifetime to master.”
So what are the implications? That would exclude any form of abuse, war, bulling, cutting corners, overpowering, crime, bending of rules, and yes even misbehaving in traffic. It would include thinks like “Please leave this bathroom the way you would like to find it” and on a slightly bigger scale, leaving the earth a better place for future generations. A society of individuals following that and only that rule would be extremely different from what we see all around us. And probably so much better. So why are we not following the rule when it’s so simple and commonly known? I think it has to do with humans being notoriously self-centered and therefore have a double standard. We see us differently then we see everybody else.
I read a joke recently: How many only children does it take to change a light bulb? One. It holds the light bulb and waits for the world to revolve around it. In a way we all are like that. We like the world to revolve around us. This is how we see everything. Since everything we see, hear, think, smell, and feel is bound to our body and therefore has ourself in the center. We are aware of our own interests and not of the interests of others around us. If only they knew how late I am, they would stop their cars and give me a police escort to work. After all I’m the only one who is late and everybody else has all the time in the world. I know we would never say that but isn’t that the way we sometimes think? And then we realize that we would have to sacrifice our own comfort to the greater good. But our comfort and more the lack of it is real, the greater good is surreal. We immediately know when we are suffering but it’s often difficult to know when others are. Of course we take care of our needs they are the ones we see. The needs of the people around us are hidden and it takes effort to get to know them. Live is so much easier when I am my own best friend. Unfortunately everybody else is so annoyingly self-centered. But is life really easier that way?
If we would just pause for a moment and imagine a world where everybody is following the golden rule. Where everybody has everybody on his or her mind. Imagine to be treated lovingly and with deep care all the time. With respect and acceptance as the foundation of all relationships. Where we don’t have to think about ourself because everybody else is. Where we don’t have to do everything in our power to satisfy our longings for the others are using their power on my behalf. Wouldn’t that be great? Wouldn’t that make living so much easier? Couldn’t that utopia help our relationships, our society, and ultimately mankind to thrive? But we have to take this logical and simple rule and apply it to our lives. Every day, every hour, every minute, everywhere, with everybody and everything. We need to stick to the rule instead of doing whatever we want just because it is easier in the moment. Just like Go it’s only fun when everybody follows the rule all the time. Only that will be good and fun in the long run.
