Magister Ludi (The Glass Bead Game)

Hesse's books were favorites of the sixties and early-seventies turned-on generation, along with those of J.R.R. Tolkien and Carlos Castaneda. Of all these works, the austere Glass Bead Game was the least approachable, yet keenly sought, as it had about it the scent of surpassing wisdom. For those who could use a refresher, or who never read it, we can summarize it thus:

There is a game, played with glass beads. Its subject matter is the entire sweep of human civilization. In order to even begin to play it, one must have already become an absolute master of at least one entire branch of human culture, with its many sciences and arts.

The game seems to be played by simply stringing beads on a thread. But of course, it isn't so simple, as each bead represents something quite huge about human experience. Putting it together in a good way was tantamount to synthesizing an entire civilization. Who achieves the highest is named Magister Ludi - The Master of the Game.

The bead game is played in the 23rd century by members of that society's intellectual elite. The players seem to be extremely intellectual, to a fault. That is why much of the book seems so austere and difficult. And yet, Joseph Knecht, the one who achieves mastery in the course of the book, gradually transcends himself and, at the end, becomes a glowing being who no longer even speaks, but whose radiant presence is sought out by all the others.

How did this happen? That, I think, is the mystery of the book, never revealed or even discussed, but left for the reader to ponder. And that we did, until time moved on and the whole enterprise was forgotten.

Not by everyone, apparently. A web search reveals the game is actually being played today and there is a current Magister Ludi! Will wonders never cease; there is a place for everything in these final days of society.

Moreover, the game has been equated with various modern and ancient schools of philosophy. Web page after web page deals with the need to decode the symbology of the beads, just as the players in the book did.

Wonderful, but it would still seem a long haul through all this before even possibly becoming a glowing master like Joseph Knecht.

And yet, there is something about this bead game that makes it the perfect metaphor for concepts treated in our two websites: Open SETI and The End of Enchantment.

Quantum Consciousness

That is a flash of consciousness. It occurs in the human brain upon each quantum tunneling event that takes place in the neuronal synapses. Or it can happen without a brain.

What makes for a stream of consciousness - a life lived by a conscious being - is the threading of some selection of all the quantum events in the universe. No, not in the universe. Each is an entire universe. Each individual consciousness threads these in its own way. And, by the way, each quantum event can be threaded on only one thread. THAT is the basis for solipsism, the assertion that each of us is alone in a universe of our own making.

There are plenty of quantum events to go around for everyone. And there is apparently coupling. That is why you have a replica of me in your life, but it is not myself really. Only I am myself.

I am sure you have guessed by now: your conscious moments are beads in the game. You thread them to create your life. The master is one who consciously threads them, to perfection.

The Synthetic Myth page takes this up in terms of entire lives. At this level of organization, the beads are lives; the thread does not necessarily progress via clock time. It all depends on your particular chosen synthesis.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

The Buddha taught that all mind and matter is ultimately composed of tiny particles which he called kalapas which arise and pass away trillions of times in the blink of an eye.

Civilizations and Technological Progress

What was Hesse Saying?

Pages

The End of Enchantment

Open SETI