86. The art of weiqi (go/baduk) war (碁#7) ☱

Despite all the dismissals and finger pointing as superstitious witchcraft nonsense by scientists, they too want to know the future. They too, are starting to engage in fortune-telling and prophecy, as witnessed by the growing number of articles on quantum computing and its ability to predict the future. And no matter how much these geniuses in the ivory tower say they know their maths, they too want to know next week’s lottery numbers. Playing weiqi (go/baduk) is infact a form of partnership between you and your rival: a delicate balancing act in which two opposing sides use the leverage of competition to form a new reality. It is in this process of creating a new reality that at a certain level the future can be foretold. The desire to know the future is really a desire to cause order out of disorder. It is not about hearing or seeing what you want to happen. Although there is sometimes a feeling that the answers given are biased towards what we wish. True chaos hides in the fact, that most people do not actually know what they want. They say that they do - but that would be like a weiqi board in which there is only one type of colour on the board. People need opposition to prove to themselves that what they want is actually what they want. And the more uncertain they are, the more opposition they attract into their lives. And yet, within this chaos resides the seed of order. And that is where I typically come in. I have friends who are better than me at the game of weiqi. But every now and then they lose themselves to the politics of the game and start to feel disenfranchised. So in order to get back their mojo, they invite me to an evening of family dinner, tea and a game of weiqi or two. I have been described as a category six super cyclone in my style of play. And I play like it is their last day on earth. My theory on that, is that when I was younger I read too much Judeo-Christian literature about Judgment Day. So for that game, I AM hell on earth. During the game as I am throwing fire and brimstone at them, wave upon wave, I see their version of reality unfold. Yes, they elected to play the defensive game. It’s the only real way to beat me. For those of you familiar with the game, playing defence is the stronger overarching strategy along with the combined strategy of holding out for as long as possible until the attacker runs out of mental ammo. I’ve had guys at the end of a game thank me, because just like the beautiful rainbow that comes after a storms’ passing, they again have perspective and clarity as to what truly matters to them. Even if they cannot articulate it because it may just be a sense of knowing based on an inexpressible feeling. And if they are up to it, I will show them their future based on the way they played the game. Which isn’t so airy-fairy as it seems: Most people play weiqi the way they live their lives and perform their occupations. They just need guidance in seeing it for themselves. And maybe a stiff drink or two, to help wash the lessons down ⚔️圍棋戰聖