What is life? Many people have different answers to this. For some life is a spiritual pursuit- a task for getting closer to one’s inner being or creator. Other people think that life is an event that must be experienced to its very end, having as much fun as they can. Other people think like this, I pay little attention to them for I know what life is. The important question is what is the meaning of life.
Life is a game of musical chairs, with an infinite number of players and an almost infinite number of chairs. Somewhere in the party room of existence the chairs are laid neatly in a row, while the DJ with his flashing light display waits patiently to start the music to which we all must run around to. This is for certain. The area of doubt about life comes when considering how best to play the game and what are the rules. That is the question, how do you win life’s game of musical chairs? There are as many answers as there are combinations of chess moves, and everyone in the world would upon asking give you a slightly different answer, each certain that their method of play is correct and infallible.
A hedonist or egotist would tell you that musical chairs is a simple game, just run, jostle and push your fellow players out of the way. Anything to make sure you are the last man sitting. A religious person would say that it is best to try and win a seat when the music stops and then donate it to somebody more needy and less able bodied, safe in the knowledge that their kindness would win them favour with their God. An even more charitable person would deliberately stall to let someone else have the last remaining chair.
Philosophers and anthropologists wouldn’t play the game at all. They would stand by the buffet table and observe closely what was going on. They would stand with those with low self esteem who wouldn’t see the point of playing the stupid game anyway. The capitalists would not waste their time on running around the chairs for victory. Once they had secured their first seat they would sell it to the player that didn’t get one and use the money to buy their own chair. Communists would change the rules of the game so as to guarantee that everyone gets a seat when the music stops. Socialists would make it easier for the slower and older people to get a chair, and so make the game fairer. And autocrats would simply kill anyone that took the seats before them.
But what about atheists and cynics, how or why would they play the game at all when they have come to the conclusion that when the music stops, the winners and losers are condemned to the same fate anyway? The only prize for the winner is momentary fame and glory.
And what of the old and experienced, that after a life time of playing the game are sure they know how the game works, and know that the sad truth is no matter how long you play the game, how ever many circuits you complete around the awaiting chairs, the music never stops. The DJ just stares at you through his blue tinted sunglasses with his finger over the ‘pause’ button for all eternity. And life is just spent in preparation of what to do if it was to ever stop. And although you may be certain that you would pounce on the nearest chair faster and smoother than anyone else. You never really get to find out.

I was at a party the other day, and I was unfairly deemed to have cheated at a game of musical chairs, I’m just still bitter about it.
Marcus + Kris