The Book of the Die: A Handbook of Dice Living

272 Pages·2002·1.08 MB·English

by  Luke Rhinehart

The
Book
of the
Die
Luke Rhinehart
I dedicate this book to my wife Ann, who ordered me to write it – and then, miraculum mirandum, liked
it.
And thanks too to Francis and Chris, who had nothing to do with this particular book, but who are
owed thanks in general for years of support; and to Dan Mandel, who always does well no matter the
paucity of potential reward; and to Susan Opie and Andrew Ashton at HarperCollins, who went way
out of their way to design a book whose look mirrors its contents.
And lastly to my friends and fellow seekers who rashly let me use their words in The Book of the Die.
They must now suffer guilt by association.
CONTENTS
Cover
Title Page
Preface
Prologue in Heaven
THE TWENTY-ONE ROLLS OF THE DICE FOR THE BOOK OF
CHANCES
One & One: Self
One & Two: Seriousness
One & Three: Life and Death
One & Four: Purpose and Success
One & Five: Disaster
One & Six: Emptiness
Two & Two: Conflict
Two & Three: The Past
Two & Four: Beliefs
Two & Five: Good and Evil
Two & Six: Insight
Three & Three: Paths
Three & Four: Illusions
Three & Five: We the Creators
Three & Six: Dicing
Four & Four: Society
Four & Five: Love
Four & Six: Here
Five & Five: Chaos
Five & Six: Chance
Six & Six: Play
Epilogue
Author’s Note
About the author
By the same author
Some Square Comments on Living by the Cube
Copyright
About the Publisher
PREFACE
Literature can be liberation or litany. It can shock us into new life or lull us in
the old. The Book of the Die does not intend to lull. It is a collection of
essays, proverbs, parables and nonsense intended to help free us from
patterns which dam our lives – damming being considered undesirable. It is
intended to be dipped into at random, the Ultimate Unanswer being present
everywhere at any moment. Sooner or later, by Chance, the lucky reader will
discover what this nonsensical book is all about.
This is a Book of Wisdom and, as is true of any book of wisdom,
contains a lot of bullshit. Not to worry. The world has always been
entertained by bull-shitters and we especially enjoy them when we know
they are marking things up as they go along. So read this book with a pint or
a beakerful or a joint in one hand and the book in the other and snicker when
you feel like it, or explode a happy ‘Bah, humbug!’, and smile, but try to
avoid frowning: it’s bad for the complexion.
This book is merely trying to introduce the human race to an entirely new
way of looking at life and society and so shouldn’t be taken too seriously.
Politicians are serious. You’re not one of them, are you?
When we say this is a Book of Wisdom, we do not mean it is a book of
philosophy. Philosophy is concerned with truth and consistency, but wisdom
is concerned with moving human beings from one state to another. Truth is a
fun game to play but it is often unrelated to wisdom. When a Zen master hits
a disciple over the head with his staff he does it not because the blow has
anything to do with truth, but because he wants to wake the disciple up. So
too with our words in this book. They make only occasional pretences to
truth, but they hope they are occasionally awakening you.
In the realm of science and philosophy, truth, logic and consistency are
important and should be honoured. But in the realm of human living they are
usually counterproductive, so a book concerned with our lives should yawn
at the mention of truth. (Or puke, depending on the demands of the
situation.)
Ideas are maps. When used for the appropriate terrain they are extremely
useful. At other times they are burnable trash.
Rational linear books are designed to be read from page 1 to the end.
Since this book occasionally suggests alternatives to linear rationality it was
felt that it shouldn’t be read that way. Hence, the use of dice.
The main sections or ‘chapters’ are defined by the twenty-one possible
results of casting two identical dice. Each such section contains a variety of
material – proverbs, parables, quotations, illustrations, poems, meandering
essays, scenes from movies, contributions from other people who have
played with the dice – and six options that a die may be cast to choose
between. All are more or less related to one subject. We suggest that, rather
than proceeding through the book page by page, you choose which ‘chapter’
to read by casting two dice and then going to the chapter chosen; for it is one
of the themes of this book that Chance may have benefits beyond winning a
lottery.
Although this is a Book of Wisdom it is also a work of fiction. There are
four main characters in The Book of the Die: Luke Rhinehart, the original
Diceman; the Lord Chance, the Force in the Universe that likes to stir things
up; Whim, the Son of the Lord Chance, who was sent to earth to try to find
Ultimate Truth (U.T.); and George Cockcroft, the man who claims to have
created these three characters, but who is equally a fictional creation.
Luke originally appeared in The Dice Man, a book that was first
published in 1971 but, for reasons that only the Lord Chance understands,
has found a greater audience in the last few years than it did a generation
earlier. Luke discovered that human beings can rid themselves of
institutionalized misery by letting chance into their lives. The philosophy
that lies behind Luke and The Dice Man is a major part of this book.
The Lord Chance is the Supreme Creator and thus takes full
responsibility for every word you read here. Or rather, takes occasional
responsibility, consistency not being one of his strengths. He (or She,
depending on the time of day) is a central character in every book ever
written but is rarely as acknowledged and named as He (She) is in The Book
of the Die.
Whim is the son of the Lord Chance sent to earth to try to find U.T.
Whim’s adventures were once written about, but then suppressed. The true
story of Whim will appear next year in a book entitled Whim.
Finally, there is George Cockcroft. In theory, he is the author of several
books, including The Dice Man. For most of the last thirty years he has
hidden behind the name of Luke Rhinehart, but in this book he begins to
peek out around Luke’s bulky presence and reveal a few things about
himself. Of course, any man who has as one of his mottoes ‘This Truth
Above All: Fake It’ can hardly be considered reliable, so the intelligent
reader will take anything he says with the same pinch of salt taken when
listening to any other fictional character.
You probably wouldn’t be reading this book unless you know something,
however vague, about the weird ideas that you fear you may find here. So, a
word about dicing.
Dicing is simple: we list some options which a small part of us feels
might be challenging or interesting, and then cast a die to choose what we
do. At the simplest level the dice choose from among films, books, clothing,
food, friends and activities open to an individual at a given time. At a more
challenging level, the dice come to choose how we act, what challenges we
accept, what emotions we express, what goals we pursue, which of our
selves we pretend to be.
The process of dicing helps us to discover and live out the many
undiscovered dreams we each have within us. It frees us from our usual
bondage to control, purpose and order, into the warm realm of spontaneity
and chance. Die-ing is a game to encourage game-playing; a series of acts to
encourage acting; a series of selfless whims to kill the self and nourish whim.
Dicing is only one of many ideas in this book. The Taoist sage, the Zen
master, the Hindu yogi, the Sufi mystic and even the Christian ascetic share
one common purpose: the destruction of the self, liberation from the illusion
of a separate and controlling identity. All agree with the philosophy of die-
ing: man must give up his illusion that a self can control life; he must let go;
he cannot live until he has died.
Since it will soon become clear that nothing in this book is particularly
reliable, we suggest that you approach the reading of this book as a game.
You might try the game first with the rules we suggest or create your own
better rules to create a better game, or, out of rebellion against us, just read
the book any way you feel like.
The simplest game is to cast two dice and read the material in the chosen
section. For example, if the dice fall at a ‘two’ and a ‘five’ you open the book
at page 137 and read what you find in that section.
There is a second possible way to proceed. You are in a quandary. Or
perhaps in a laundry. In any case, you have a question you’d more or less
like answered. Or a decision you’re considering which necessitates a yes or a
no.
So ask your question, then cast the dice. The material the die chooses for
you to read may seem amazingly relevant to the question you ask. You may
be thrilled. But the odds are equally good that the material chosen may not
seem immediately relevant to your quandary (or your laundry). Read it
anyway. We never know when something will awaken us.
So read this book sometimes by casting dice. Occasionally ask a question
and see if the dice-chosen chapter speaks to you. Or dip into the book at
random, at your own whim. Or read it straight through. Far be it from us to
run your life.
PROLOGUE IN HEAVEN
What we think we know, we often come to believe is false. Having tiptoed
from one error to another for half a lifetime, some of us come to feel that we
are on firm ground only when we recognize that we are standing on
quicksand. We do not know: of that alone are we sometimes sure.
We humans are not alone in our uncertainty. We must imagine that the
Gods, yes even the Gods, suffer as we do from not knowing their origin, their
powers, the extent of their freedom or fatedness. Just as we occasionally
brood about whether we have created or been created by the Gods, so each
God comes sooner or later to consider His own origin. Is He Himself the
Supreme Creator, or is He only a creation of another God? Or, worst of all, is
He merely a creation of the very human beings which He usually believes He
Himself has created? We may imagine that the Gods, like us, must struggle
to find their place in creation, each hoping that He Himself is the very
Centre, but knowing that the evidence, unfortunately, points everywhere. It’s
not always easy being a God.
This note is being written because it is the ignorance of the Gods which
explains to us the otherwise inexplicable adventures of Whim. Few any
longer deny that Whim embodies a Force beyond that of most humans. His
life has become a mystery primarily because men have assumed that their
God knows the Ultimate Truth and knows what He wishes to communicate
to mankind. The idea that a God could visit human beings in order to learn
from them is one most humans are not willing to consider.
We, however, standing firmly on our quicksand, make no claims to
having the final truth about Whim. We know that he was born, lived and
(perhaps) died. We know that an incredible number of events difficult to
explain – accidents, coincidences, miracles, we must each choose our own
word – followed him like seagulls after a garbage ship.
Parables about his life seeking for Ultimate Truth and then trying to help
others who seek for it are part of The Book of the Die. This Prologue in
Heaven explains Whim’s appearance in our realm.