The Great Tabernacle who once contained the Testament of Moses has evolved. In its place, stands the modern Kabballa, complete with its "buzzers and bells". The mind of the believer journeys through an advanced religious system, known as "Pinball", with its flashing ostensible show on the surface, and its deeper roots of advanced scoring & circuitry.
But how has the religious symbol of the "Torah Cabinet" gone through such an epic trek, to become adapted into nearly every modern saga? And how is it possible to see such a game as religious?
Before "modern-style flippers" were introduced, adapting human hand-synapses into the switchboard circuitry of Pinball, the original game was formed out of an adaptation of billiards. During the 20th Century, the Pool-Cue was made into a rigid spring-release, and a metal ball would drift into holes that symbolised the "flower of life" or the "tree of life".
In the City of Chicago, U.S.A., many engineers would advance the rigid nails and guard rails until a series of swtiches could algorithmically total one's score. Novelties within Pinball symbolised and corresponded with new psychiatric/psychological revelations. The journey of the ball through the game was revenant with the movement of psysiological forces within the human individual.
Albeit that the Pinball Tabernacle was a pictorial testament, developers knew that the symbols were potently able to capture the mindsets of "Cowboys and Indians", "Deep-Sea Divers", and other more obscure frontiers. As players interested themselves in the Game, they would adopt the Developer's corresponding philosophical interest in the subject matter which the Game espouses. And so, the Pinball could capitulate an entirely new religious spirit, as distinct and original as the Developer herself.
We have Pinball Games for Heroes such as Batman and for Families such as the Simpsons, but it is strange to think of Pinball Games as symbolic of any organised Religion. And yet, the TragiComic Hero is the Avatar for a new and modern style of religion, one that is centred on the individual believer. Writers make an offering of new archetypes by creating new Fictional Heroes, and yet their personalities are amenable to psychological traits of their reader. But the written word does not go far enough in this respect; without the exercise of belief, the character traits remain as "static concepts", and there is nothing religious without:
1) Increase in self-understanding
2) Some newfound understanding of the universe
3) the Cultivation of Altruistic Tendencies
In my own construct of a Pinball machine, I imagine that the flippers are not controlled by my hands, but in fact, my Lleydig Glands. I push the ball into the central nervous system, and into the highest realm of the game. There are several avenues for the ball to enter into the Game, and there is a long-winding canal akin to the small intestines. The ball must be absorbed into the bloodstream or else it will be lost through the Large intestine. There is a great struggle between the internal versus. external Srotas that the Ball may travel through. In fact, the Pinball Map is a map of my own human physiology, a perfect symbol of the original Tabernacle of God's Spirit.
The Beauty of Pinball is that it is not a static, 2-Dimensional Panel display, but in fact a fully interactive system. It is possible to manipulate the path of the ball, through "flips" "bumpers" "tilting" and various efforts of the human will to help the ball survive within the game.
At the Height of Pinball Games, came the great philosophical question,
How did Tommy (the Pinball Wizard) become the Master of Pinball as someone who is both deaf and blind?
The best answer that I and my friends have concluded, was that he grew a fundamental understanding of the design of the Pinball Game, through a deeper sensitivity, and somehow in fact fused his own human consciousness with that of the machine.
But how has the religious symbol of the "Torah Cabinet" gone through such an epic trek, to become adapted into nearly every modern saga? And how is it possible to see such a game as religious?
 |
| Tabernacle Pinball (img Courtesy wiki: Endracht(Outline) + DSMDGOLD (Evan)) |
Before "modern-style flippers" were introduced, adapting human hand-synapses into the switchboard circuitry of Pinball, the original game was formed out of an adaptation of billiards. During the 20th Century, the Pool-Cue was made into a rigid spring-release, and a metal ball would drift into holes that symbolised the "flower of life" or the "tree of life".
In the City of Chicago, U.S.A., many engineers would advance the rigid nails and guard rails until a series of swtiches could algorithmically total one's score. Novelties within Pinball symbolised and corresponded with new psychiatric/psychological revelations. The journey of the ball through the game was revenant with the movement of psysiological forces within the human individual.
Albeit that the Pinball Tabernacle was a pictorial testament, developers knew that the symbols were potently able to capture the mindsets of "Cowboys and Indians", "Deep-Sea Divers", and other more obscure frontiers. As players interested themselves in the Game, they would adopt the Developer's corresponding philosophical interest in the subject matter which the Game espouses. And so, the Pinball could capitulate an entirely new religious spirit, as distinct and original as the Developer herself.
We have Pinball Games for Heroes such as Batman and for Families such as the Simpsons, but it is strange to think of Pinball Games as symbolic of any organised Religion. And yet, the TragiComic Hero is the Avatar for a new and modern style of religion, one that is centred on the individual believer. Writers make an offering of new archetypes by creating new Fictional Heroes, and yet their personalities are amenable to psychological traits of their reader. But the written word does not go far enough in this respect; without the exercise of belief, the character traits remain as "static concepts", and there is nothing religious without:
1) Increase in self-understanding
2) Some newfound understanding of the universe
3) the Cultivation of Altruistic Tendencies
In my own construct of a Pinball machine, I imagine that the flippers are not controlled by my hands, but in fact, my Lleydig Glands. I push the ball into the central nervous system, and into the highest realm of the game. There are several avenues for the ball to enter into the Game, and there is a long-winding canal akin to the small intestines. The ball must be absorbed into the bloodstream or else it will be lost through the Large intestine. There is a great struggle between the internal versus. external Srotas that the Ball may travel through. In fact, the Pinball Map is a map of my own human physiology, a perfect symbol of the original Tabernacle of God's Spirit.
The Beauty of Pinball is that it is not a static, 2-Dimensional Panel display, but in fact a fully interactive system. It is possible to manipulate the path of the ball, through "flips" "bumpers" "tilting" and various efforts of the human will to help the ball survive within the game.
At the Height of Pinball Games, came the great philosophical question,
How did Tommy (the Pinball Wizard) become the Master of Pinball as someone who is both deaf and blind?
The best answer that I and my friends have concluded, was that he grew a fundamental understanding of the design of the Pinball Game, through a deeper sensitivity, and somehow in fact fused his own human consciousness with that of the machine.
No comments:
Post a Comment