The Path And Practice Of Bridge

Today was my first day on the road to becoming a bridge master. During some free time at work, I surfed the Internet and went to the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) website. To visit it, Go to: http://www.acbl.org/ I downloaded their free "Learn To Play Bridge" software, and read through the site. I was looking for info on classes, teachers and learning about the whole history and world of bridge. Bridge originated from the game Whist, which had been played in Europe for centuries before. In modern times, it was updated in the 20th century by one of the Vanderbilt family, to it's current form now. It has been considered a game of royalty. It's is also considered one of the hardest card games in the world to play.

Where did Michael come up with this? When we were siting on my couch in my living room, shortly before he told me what he wanted to do, he had been sitting with his eyes drooping almost looking like he was falling asleep. I asked him if he was OK. He said, "yes, I just sometimes do that." He seemed like he was come back from somewhere far away and had returned with something for me, from that far away place. I was feeling a little uncomfortable by what seemed like some sort of theatrics, but knowing Michel and knowing Jan, it was not. Neither was he joking. I was mystified.

When I drove Michael back to Jan's house, before we went into the house, we sat briefly in the car. I asked him, "Are you screwing with me?" "No", he said. "I am not." I felt like an ass for saying that, but I felt scared that I was going on some wild goose chase. What did bridge have to do with being awake, being enlightened? Since That conversation in the car, I have had wisps of awareness cross through my mind, about everything being of the one life, worthy of my attention. My attachment to certain forms, and feeling like I was wasting my time and life with the rest, was an old way of seeing that was going to need to be revisited and possibly revised..

Michael also told me to consider the staring of the club, the playing of the game of bridge, everything to do with it, to be my path and practice. Now, I see that since I started this, just today, my old habits of how I approach challenges, of how I respond to things when I feel unnerved, is still the same. I feel the need to quickly, "get on top of it." Get it all under control. My attention drifts away from everything else going on around me, as I try to think of how I can do this right, not screw it up, maybe even be that best at it! The ego is strong. It wants a lot, and it wants it now! Can I do this with devotion to the master and humility?