God’s Infinite Games

I was introduced to the book Finite and Infinite Games [i]by James Carse by the “Games and Game Theory” episode Seth Godin’s podcast Akimbo. The Wikipedia entry on the book has this to say about its content, “There are at least two kinds of games: finite and infinite. Finite games are those instrumental activities - from sports to politics to wars - in which the participants obey rules, recognize boundaries and announce winners and losers. The infinite game - there is only one - includes any authentic interaction, from touching to culture, that changes rules, plays with boundaries and exists solely for the purpose of continuing the game. A finite player seeks power; the infinite one displays self-sufficient strength. Finite games are theatrical, necessitating an audience; infinite ones are dramatic, involving participants…”

The properties of the finite game are essentially why it is so difficult to engage political or economic change as an individual or “regular person.” The rules are different. It is a different game from what we are used to engaging in daily life. The finite game is a reinforcing feedback loop, it is one-upmanship and brinkmanship. It produces the prototypical damped sine-wave cycle, wherein a disturbance causes an oscillation about the goal point that decreases over time. The next disturbance sets up the oscillation again. It is the pursuit of the win. It is the game played by the various institutions, businesses, and even churches that order our reality.

Damped sine wave oscillation

We can only access the infinite game, in other words see a glimpse of God, when we cease trying to win, when we begin to live life for the sake of living life well. This was the Israelite’s problem, the reason that they periodically experienced exile and famine of various types. The Levitical code spells out the processes of life, the means of access to God. It uses the language of rule and regulation, but the living out of every minute rule was never the point. The attempt to live perfectly by the Law was the error of the Pharisees. This is also why means of reconciliation are built into the Law. It cannot be followed perfectly. The Law is death, Jesus is quoted as saying. Salvation cannot come through adherence to the Law. But the Law is all that Israel had.

God showed up, became visible, when Israel was focused on the process of living rather than on achieving the specifics of the Law. When Israel cried out to God during their enslavement in Egypt or their exile in Babylon and elsewhere, God listened, became again present to the people, because the process of their living had become so unbearable that they had no choice but to focus again on that process. They ceased their pursuits of power, wealth, and status – the objectives of the finite game – and refocused on the rhythms and processes of life – the focus of the infinite game. It is in the processes of life, in the cycles and liturgies of everyday existence, and in the relationships in which we experience love that we best find God. No amount of winning, no amount of power, no amount of positioning will enable us to find faith or experience God.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finite_and_Infinite_Games