With this vocabulary of symbols, the players artfully construct a drawing or map which illuminates parallels and relations between interdisciplinary fields of thought.
This Game utilizes a sort of gigantic alphabet in which various intellectual concepts like a passage of music, a mathematical theorem, or a philosophical postulate are signified by graphic symbols akin to Chinese characters. Their highest ceremonial act of intellectual “worship” is the Glass Bead Game. The Castalians do not create new art, science, or literature, but rather analyze, interpret, and preserve existing cultural artifacts. This secular priesthood is headquartered in the European province of Castalia, a sort of secular Vatican. Following the brutal wars and cultural decay of the 20th century, mankind sanctions the formation of a brotherhood to act as stewards to the world’s intellectual heritage. Hermann Hesse’s 1943 novel The Glass Bead Game, also known by the title Magister Ludi, is set in a utopian future.
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