This game, called senet (which means “passing”),* came from Thebes, Egypt, in 1852. The belief was that the dead walked through the underworld to their judgment but had to pass gates blocked by demons. The gameboard invokes the zones through which the deceased traveled. Even the dead must follow a road—a dao, if you will.
I saw the game as an analogy for my trip to New York, to my artistic journey, and to my life’s journey. I am also on my road, my dao. I have confronted demons, both in humanoid shape and in the form of misfortune. Each day has multiple gateways that I must pass; rarely are there just a few. Getting out of bed each morning and being able to get back to bed each night is good if I can say, “I did everything I could have done today.”
When it comes to my character, I have multiple opponents: ignorance, shortcomings, illness, aging, and death. Whenever I make a move, these demons make a countermove. We may talk of the challenges of art or writing, but I can’t even get to that without temporarily quelling the demons. Short respites of temporary triumph are just long enough to do some work.
This trip was also a matter of passages—to get to the museum opening, to understand its significance, to marvel that life is impossible to predict. I never expected to be in this show. That’s illuminating. We don’t know if we’ll succeed, and yet we must fight bout after bout. After a long period, our life pattern will reveal itself in a form no one could have designed or mandated. There is no fate. There are no guardian angels. There is only each person. We must always persevere in our personal senet.
Should we try to fight for what we believe? Here’s the truth: fighting means you might win or lose. Not fighting means you’ll lose for certain.
I’m still on the road.
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Set of Gaming Pieces. Faience (tin-glazed earthenware) . Possible Place Made: Thebes, Egypt. ca. 1539–1295 B.C.E. Dynasty 18 (possibly). New Kingdom. Greatest height: 1 in. (2.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum.
https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/3961
* https://otagomuseum.nz/athome/how-to-play-senet#