"The joy of victory and the agony of defeat." The winner is raised up and the loser is cast down. Our awakened experience is marked by a desire for victory and a fear of defeat. The human experience is indeed in the form of a game; the outcome is always in doubt because the contest is not settled until the end of time. The best one can hope for is to have the upper hand when the clock expires. There are,of course, games within the game.

The joy of victory is the joy of domination; the agony of defeat is the agony of being dominated. The winners and losers are never apart, and that taints every joy, the sight of the losers and the fear of becoming one. The winners and the losers constitute one corporate body; it is the contest that unites them; master and slave incorporate each other. The desire to dominate is the desire to be dominated; the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

You see, Oh Monks, every joyous victory is dogged by a desire for the agony of defeat. "The poor shall always be with you." Until time runs out and the game ends.