It matters little to the pawn…..
… on which square he rests……
…………………………..when taken
Gone is gone. Dead is dead. Does the pawn scream when removed from the chessboard? Would the players notice? The pawn, existing, waiting, doing as ordered, propelled forward by the invisible hand of the player, until… the inevitable.
“But I am not a pawn!” Congratulations. You may be a knight, or a rook, or a bishop, with designs to be more. But even for the queen or king, ultimately, is the result not the same? Is the safety of the chessboard not an illusion?
There are those who have left the matrix of the chessboard. Or never joined to begin with. They scoff at rigid rules.They value freedom more. The invisible hand can still hurt them. But they can fight back, take control. They can create on their own. Another brick in the wall? Another link in the chain? Another drone in the hive? No, surely there must be something better.
Tibetan monks constructing sand mandala are definitely off the chessboard. Spending days or weeks creating a single, beautiful work of art. Millions of fine grains of colored sand, intricately layered into a symbolic picture of the universe.They believe the process releases healing energy to the environment and those who view it. Then, when complete, a special vapor deposition process freezes the mandala in place, giving the monks a touch of immortality as their art is displayed and lives on forever.
Actually, no. It always ends the same. The beauty is not preserved. Instead, after praying over the divine geometry, the sand mandala is destroyed, celebrating the impermanence of material life. The sand poured into a nearby body of water, spreading the healing energy.
I will soon be off the chessboard for the time I have remaining. Free to choose…. when to wake, when to sleep, what to do. To explore. To love my wife. To seek beauty. To hopefully create beauty, impermanent as it is.