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Table I. Meta-Games and Object Games

GAME	AIM
Master Game	awakening
Religion Game	salvation
Science Game	knowledge
Art Game	beauty
Householder Game	raise family
No Game	no aim
Hog in Trough	wealth
Cock on Dunghill	fame
Moloch Game	glory or victory

Life games reflect life aims. And the games men choose to play indicate not only their type, but also their level of inner development. [DeRopp, a biochemist, used the term game not to denote frivolity but as "a trial of strength or a trial of wits played within a matrix which is defined by rules."] Following Thomas Szasz (more or less) we can divide life games into object games and meta-games. Object games can be thought of as games played for the attainment of material things, primarily money or the objects which money can buy. Meta-games are played for intangibles such as knowledge or the "salvation of the soul." In our culture object games predominate. In earlier cultures meta-games predominated. To the players of meta-games, object games have always seemed shallow and futile, an attitude summarized in the Gospel saying: "What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" To the players of object games, meta-games seem fuzzy and ill-defined, involving nebulous concepts like beauty, truth or salvation.

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