It’s official: We’re in a Brave New World. Well, I’m not exactly sure about the brave part. But we are most assuredly in a New World. Here’s how I know:
I downloaded a game on my iPhone called, Zen Word. While I downloaded mine from Apple’s App Store, I suspect the version from the Google Store is exactly the same. The idea of the game is that making words of increasing lengths and levels of arcanity is supposed to make you feel relaxed, especially if you’re playing against elapsing time for particular bonus elements of the game. I can tell you this from considerable experience: I’ve relaxed myself into periods of frustration and insomnia playing the game.
I don’t play the game for relaxation, though. I play it because I appreciate the synapse firing it precipitates. And I play it because I occasionally come across words I don’t know, which gives me the opportunity to learn them. That’s an opportunity I relish.
As you complete each level and move on to the next, there’s an interlude in which you’re presented with a poetic verse, a haiku, or a prose message from which you’re supposed to derive still more Zen-like peace from the game. I know we’re in a New World because between the last two levels I played, the message I received was this:
“I focus on how I feel, not what I want to achieve.”
What?! Let’s focus on this in the context of the game, shall we?
Competing Purposes
There are times at which, when I’m playing Zen Word, I come across a word I just can’t get, at least for a while, maybe until I put the game down and come back to it later. If I were focused on how I felt in those moments — frustrated and perhaps angry — I’d delete the game or smash my phone. Consequently, other than deleting the game or smashing my phone, I wouldn’t achieve anything.
Conversely, if I were focused on what I want to achieve — figure out the difficult word and maybe learn a new one — I’d ignore my feelings, continue playing the game, refrain from smashing my phone, and actually accomplish something constructive. But as we all know, getting things done is so déclassé.
Let’s Go Back
As most players of Zen Word know, Zen is a school of Mahayana Buddhism; although, there is no record of whether it was an elementary school, a middle school, a high school, or a college. It originated in China during the Tang dynasty (618–907 CE) as Chan Buddhism, tracing its origins to the teachings of the Indian monk Bodhidharma, who arrived in China around the 5th or 6th century CE. Bodhidharma left India hoping to find the United States and ended up in China (creating an unwitting precursor to Christopher Columbus, who left Spain hoping to find India).
Bodhidharma emphasized direct experience of enlightenment through meditation over scriptural study — feelings over achievement — evolving into a tradition that values simplicity, presence, and the paradox of feeling things without knowing anything. The word Zen is derived from the Japanese pronunciation of the Middle Chinese word chán (meaning the staff of a Buddhist monk), which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word dhyāna (meaning the Princess of Wales). And Zen Words was created by the Buddhist monk, Kidult Lovin, whose first name became a noun.
Put all that together, and Bob’s your uncle.
