THE MASTER GAME
By
Dr. de Ropp, a biochemist formerly connected with the Rockefeller Institute, provided a lucid guide to drugs in his Drugs and the Mind way back in '57 before they achieved such a degree of prominence in the public consciousness and conscience. In The Master Game, the Professor presents what he considers to be the highest goals that man can attempt to achieve which are represented by the term ""meta-games."" Lowest on this scale is the Art Game for beauty, next the Science Game for knowledge, the Religion Game for salvation and finally the Master Game for awakening. His emphatic contention is that the Master Game can and should be played without the use of drugs which often result in misguided enlightenment and inevitable ""spiritual burglary."" Combining Freud, scientific psychic investigation and Zen techniques and philosophy he presents his program of ""Creative Psychology"" in four parts: recognition of five states of consciousness; understanding of one's physical type; education of the various emotional/intellectual centers, and the use of outside assistance--teachers or a special community. The aims are excellent but one must question the validity of certain aspects of the approach--the attempt to lump psychological characteristics together with specific physical traits for example. At best an amorphous guide to Karma that may lead some ""meta-game"" players along the right path.