International Viewpoints (IVy), Issue 35 - January 1998

Before KSW -- 1

Ron Invents a Game
By Phil Spickler, USA.

HELLO -- HERE'S CHAPTER 1 (The introduction to this series is in IVy 34, page 9), entitled Ron Invents a Game. The title could be the chapter, since most of the folks that might be interested in this chapter know just what is meant by the term "game." Nevertheless, any hope of an audience is most inspiring so here I go.

The historic Ron: "All games are aberrative; some are fun." So what happens when you take the spirit of play and start a game with a goal at its beginning? Well, goals do find their oppose and after awhile, with the help of time, things can get serious, solid and aberrative. The opposing forces or groups eventually end up looking like what they initially opposed, and we finally end up with a friendly Internal Revenue Service and a very scary menacing Church, just as an example of what happens if you play serious games with crazy groups.

So finally in the 60's Ron could write in his policy letter "Keeping Scientology Working," "This (Scientology) is a deadly serious business." This from the laughing redhead of the early 1950's who showed us the Dianetic EP of great laughter as erasure and Truth came in.

Initially the idea was to be 3 feet behind the planet's and its peoples' heads, or from a pan-determined view of our dynamics seek to help bring about a more ideal civilization just for the fun of it, just for kicks. However and alas, a planet like ours is very tempting when it comes to games, and it's easy to get into opponents and fighting and also to become pretty aberrated along the way.

Some of us, after awhile, chose not to play the "later Ron's" game, and left the big team, philosophically much richer and in some cases sadder but wiser, and went off to have some fun without goaling the conquest of Earth or the universe. My salute to the fun lovers: they are the real thing!

A partial quote from Stanza 29 of the Tao Te Ching of Lao Tsu: "Do you think you can take over the universe and improve it? I do not believe it can be done!"

P.S. Per Buddha: suffering, old age, sickness and death can, in some cases, contribute to loss of laughter!

Chapter II is Fun and Play With Ron in the 50's.