From the recording Being Well
“Divine Play” explicitly references the Hindu concept of līlā: life as the playful drama of the divine. Our suffering and identities are modes of this cosmic entertainment. Happiness comes from wholeheartedly embracing one’s role in the play: “Write yourself into this tragedy / A life worth dying for, joyfully.” Rather than an otherworldly purpose (as in Plato), divinity is immanent within lived experience. This resonates with Dan Haybron’s notion of attunement: psychic affirmation is possible even amid suffering when we see our toils as part of a larger cosmic dance.
Lyrics
Divine play
Working everyday
The gods are having fun
Doing what you’ve done
Divine play
Many a disguise
Watch themselves appear
Through your very eyes
Divine play
Anything you write
Read a thousand ways
The many words to play
Divine play
Suffer and you strive
Glad you get to play
Get to be alive
Write yourself into this tragedy
A life worth dying for, joyfully
Read the lines as they say
Divine Play
Waking everyday
Watching the sunrise
Shining through your eyes
Divine play
Here we are again
No matter where and when
Still the same old, then
Divine play
Deep into the flow
Dancing it away
Never getting old
Divine play
Feeling it unfold
Live and learn to try
Then wait your turn to die
Write yourself into a tragedy
Your life’s worth dying for, joyfully
Read the lines as they say
Divine play
Working every day
Divine play
Mysterious ways
Divine play
Working every day
Divine play
Mysterious ways
Divine play
See through your disguise
Watch yourself appear
Through your very eyes