By Mark Rubenstein
Why do we play this game? Some might say it’s just for fun, but I believe it goes deeper than that. I think many of us have discovered that Go is more than a game; it’s a space where we can experiment with a way of thinking that helps us engage more fully in life.
When we play Go, the fundamental question we are asking throughout the game is; what’s important? Every move we play, we ask ourselves; where is the most important place for me to be playing now? Every time our opponent makes a move, we ask ourselves; is that move important? What does he want? Why is he playing there? Do I need to respond to that move? Do I agree that what he finds important is also important to me? These questions resonate deeply within us, even when they are only being asked in the context of a game of Go. They trigger a way of thinking that we find engaging and meaningful.
Some people say that you can see aspects of someone’s personality in the way they play Go. I think there’s some truth in that. Do you live and let live on the Go board? Do you try to kill everything? Do you shy away from a fight? Are you willing to sacrifice unimportant stones? I think as we ask these questions on the Go board, we also see their application in our daily lives. If these questions only applied to the game of Go, I don’t think we would all find ourselves as deeply interested in and enamored of the game. I think these questions tap into something more fundamental in our nature, and stimulate our desire to express our personalities more fully in the world.
As we review our games, we are replaying our thoughts and feelings. We aren’t looking for the perfect move we missed; we’re looking for the thought that kept us from seeing that move. The game story is not a list of the moves that were played; it’s a narrative of a conversation each player is having with himself and his opponent.
In this new era of AI, I fear that we are orienting ourselves to a narrow goal; to win the game. Of course, we all want to win games. But there’s much more to each game we play than just winning; there is the discovery of what we find important, and how that affects the course of the game… and maybe the course of our lives.
Rubenstein runs the Evanston (IL) Go Club
