I bet you're winning.At what game?
Most of us are winning, at something: money, property, savings, experiences, partners, followers.
But the longing is still there.
That is the only clue most of us get: a restlessness that no success has switched off. It may be telling us that we are playing the wrong game.
The Sufi tradition, among others, has described how to go about it, long ago and still today. That path goes against much of what modern life takes for granted. That is why it is hard to follow, and why most of us don't.
Our work is to take what that tradition knew, bring it into an ordinary busy week, and start giving priority to what matters most.
We promise no results. Those depend on many things. What we offer is a structure and a methodology you can apply at your own pace, with tools for awareness, observation and personal clarity.
A meaningful life is possible today. Just not, it seems, in the way most of us let our lives run.
Three questions
What are you ignoring?
Something has been telling you for a while. You did not act, because things were going well.
What are you postponing?
You know what it is. It will wait until you are less busy, and you are always busy.
What did you half follow?
You started in that direction once. You stopped before it cost you anything.
Ways to work
A workshop for your group
Three days, for a group that already exists: a company, a network, a circle of peers. One question about where your life is heading, held long enough to see it clearly. Two or three simple practices for an ordinary Tuesday. One habit of attention, seen in yourself.
- The heart. What do you long for, and what has a claim on you?
- The mind. Why are you here, really? How you think about conflict.
- Action. One small commitment with a very high chance of being kept.
We have held it in Istanbul, where the days begin at dawn and are organised around the prayers. You take part as a guest, and nobody asks you to believe or join anything.
An open workshop
We occasionally hold open workshops. If this work interests you and you don't have a particular group in mind, get in touch and we'll let you know when the next open workshop is scheduled.
One to one
A guide and mentor can work with you one to one, in person or by video call. Some people come to start the work, others to continue it after a workshop. The aim is the same: keep the question alive, and the small commitment kept.
The first conversation is to see whether it is useful to you.
The thinking
We climb a ladder, and we may reach the top only to discover it was leaning against the wrong building.From “The anxiety of meaninglessness”, Substack
Two lives at once
Ernest Becker described people as living a material life and a symbolic one. The first ends. The second wants to matter. Each produces its own anxiety, and most of what we build is a way of living with both.
Games people play
Eric Berne described the psychological games people play without noticing. The question is which game you are in, and whether you still want to be.
The end of the game
Viktor Frankl wrote about the vacuum that opens when achievement stops holding. Sufis put it as a saying: die before you die.
The question you ask
The question you ask yourself shows the level you are thinking on. Moving up one question at a time can change the problem.
Writing
Essays on these questions, in English and Spanish, on Substack.
- ENLooking in the wrong placeWhat if you are winning… at the wrong game?
- ENAddicted to OurselvesThe addiction we don’t know we have is the most dangerous one.
- ENChoosing…A sure-fire guide to choosing correctly
- ENThe problem with having a problemWhat if problems are not here to be solved, but to solve you.
- ENThe Anxiety of MeaninglessnessWhich of your two lives are you focused on?
- ESTener o serInfantilismo o conciencia
- ESProblemas: ¿quién resuelve a quién?¿Y si los problemas no hubiera que resolverlos?
- ESLa importancia de las pruebas
- ESEscoger
- ESAdictos a nosotros mismosLa adicción que no sabemos que tenemos
- ESLa decisión en cada momento
- ESLa Ley del Tres y el dilema existencial
- ES¿Animal o ángel?El dilema existencial del ser humano
- ESEl uso de nuestra energía
- ESEl ego como velo
- ESDespertar
- ESLa fuerza vital
Who runs it
Juan Antonio (Suleyman) Martínez belongs to a Sufi tariqah, a brotherhood, and has studied the wisdom traditions of the Middle East for more than thirty years. He is a certified Enneagram teacher and coach, trained in Gestalt, and has worked for years in Gurdjieff's Fourth Way.
He works mainly with business owners and executives who need to reach intuition and purpose in the middle of a demanding life. The workshops are for people willing to reflect, explore and take personal risks. He lives in Órgiva, in the Alpujarras of Granada, Spain.
Write
A workshop for your group. Tell me who the group is, roughly how many people, and what you hope will be different afterwards.
An open workshop. Write to be told when the next one is scheduled.
One to one. For people who want to start this work, or to continue it. The first conversation is to see whether it is useful to you.
Email: info@thegameworthplaying.com
Read the essays on Substack