To play chess, as to live in society, you need a set of rules. It is a prerequisite that determines the tacit framework that must not be exceeded. Without them, there can be no game. It’s a question of cohesion, of “not subjecting the will of others to our own”, as Rousseau states in The Social Contract. The rules of the game are the very essence of meaning. This fundamental thing that everyone is running after, but which seems to elude us.
But not all rules are created equal. Among them are the irremovable ones. The ones governed by physics, the resistance of materials or planetary limits that we nonetheless blithely transgress. And then there are the others. The ones we have set ourselves and erected as dogmas. The economic rules. Those of globalisation, infinite growth and the exploitation of natural resources.
But what if we’ve simply got the rules of the game wrong?
All the unhappiness in the world stems from the fact that we are unable to change these rules, even though they are showing their limits. We persist like bad players who refuse to lose. But in chess, as elsewhere, you sometimes have to sacrifice a piece to win a game. It’s a question of strategy.
There are a thousand ways to win. And not all of them involve winning or dominating. We’ll see at our next summit in Paris, from 11 to 12 January. You are always welcome to take part in the discussion. But if we want to win collectively, it is above all on these rules of the game that we must act. And we have to agree to give up some of them.
So what’s on your mind? Will you join us in the game?
Written by Pascal Béria