In a game of cards or tennis there may come a moment when you
see you cannot possibly win. The same can happen with your hope
of a happy marriage or a brilliant career. Can you go on playing still,
with no expectation of a win? Play not for the victory, though you have
to strive for that, but for the game itself. Playing is a form of worship.
John Donne and George Herbert were ambitious men. Both hoped
to serve the state in some high capacity. Both were disappointed.
Both became clergymen. A cynic might conclude that they had settled
for a second best. But can a second best turn out better than the first?
Can defeat be met in such a way that it yields a greater prize than victory?
Most of us are destined to failure, which is a form of suffering. How to
use our suffering, how to turn the lead of our defeat into the gold of
something else, is the object of religious alchemy. Not the only one, but
one that most of us are interested in.
Sydney Carter, Dance in the Dark
