The esoteric wisdom of chess

Gnostic culture teaches the doctrine of the Heart, which is based on the faculty of intuition, in order to learn to see beyond the forms. And thus to rescue the conscious values of each event for our learning. In the same way, it teaches us the esoteric wisdom of chess, the most popular science game in the world. 

There are many board games, but none that have a history of more than 1,500 years and are so topical today that they are considered a science-sport.

"Life is a chessboard, where each of our actions is a move. If our moves are good, intelligent and timely, the result will be success, health and longevity. If, on the other hand, our moves are bad faith, selfish and ill-timed, the result will be failure, sickness and death". Samael Aun Weor.

The benefits of playing chess

The multiple cognitive-emotional benefits of learning and playing chess have been widely studied. Among many other aspects, it improves the capacity for analysis, trains the memory, stimulates creativity, helps develop patience and respect for the opponent. It also improves the ability to understand the rules and to accept the consequences of one's actions.

I see in the chess struggle an astonishingly accurate model of human life, with its daily grind, its crises and its ceaseless ups and downs. G. Kasparov 

Playing chess involves training that intervenes in improving planning, organisation, problem-solving, and the problemsattention, attention, visual-spatial ability, discipline and emotional intelligence.

Esoteric chess 

• The board: It symbolises the same life with its dual character, the positive and the negative.
• The pawns: They are the soldiers of the king's army, the simplest pieces, the details of life that conquer the virtues of the queen and mother. The eight Virtues of Mother Devi-Kundalini, which are: Understanding, Will, Speech, Right to Think, Right to Feel, Right Way of Earning a Living, Let there be Peace, and love. If a pawn manages to reach the last row of the board it can be crowned and exchanged for another piece of greater movement and value, which teaches us esoterically of the value of perseverance and the ability to overcome.
• The towers: In the ancient mystery schools, the neophyte was given the Chisel and Hammer to polish the two columns of the Temple, the White and the Black, or rather, the Doric and the Ionic. This physical construction, usually in stone, is the building of the inner temple, chiselled with the sublimation of our own sexual energy.
• Los Caballos: They represent Boldness and the courage to eliminate Fear. Their movements describe the square and the compass, so important in Masonic studies. Its L-shaped movements (unique to the horse), allow us to jump over other pieces, inviting us to reflect on resilience and overcoming obstacles in life, in order to move forward.
• The Bishops: In medieval courts, they were known as Bishops and were the closest to the King. The Bishops are the Lances, the Urania Venus of the Greeks. The straightness and amplitude of movements symbolises the righteousness that we must have in our actions.
• Queen Lady: The universal principle of life, which shines in every work, God Himself, is the King unfolded in Woman, the Eternal Love that ebbs and flows in all creation. As children we long for her tenderness because she is the other half of our BEING. Without the Queen in a game of Chess, we feel without the supreme power, we are lost. 
• If we make a Transcendental study of different cultures, in history, it has been represented by the Priestess of the Mystery temples in Egypt. The Priestess of Thebes, who spoke to the crowds amidst torches. Also as a vestal at Delphi, under the name of Pythia. The freedom of the Lady's movements on a chessboard show us her importance both in the game and in life. By her moves we can lose or win the game.
• The King: Symbolises  the wisdomThe Hierarch, our real SELF, the Inner Master, the inner star that has always smiled upon us. The whole game of Chess consists in placing the king in such a situation that he cannot move. It is only then that it is put to death, or Checkmate. It is well known that once a game of Chess is over, another can be started, but the King remains the King. He does not change, that is our Real BEING, he is what he has been, what he is and what he will be.

The philosophical teaching of sport science

One of the fundamental values of Chess is Time, that is to say, the speed to carry out the strategy of the game, in a space-time, avoiding making mistakes. So also in life, man is confronted with innumerable problems. Each person needs to know how to solve them intelligently. 

Every chess player knows that the solution lies in the problem itself, as long as there is peace of mind and a balance between the mind, emotion and movement.

We can be sure that all human beings are chess pieces on the chessboard of life; and above us there are higher beings, who sometimes support the black pieces and sometimes the white ones. 

Each one of us is now replaying the same game of our previous life, plus the consequences, good or bad, under the effects of the Law of Karma. We are unconscious players who have not learned to play intelligently; who do not let our destiny be decided by a single purpose, but are guided by our inordinate whims and our disordered cravings, in other words, the ego . 

All human beings, without higher education, are like a game of Chess without Pawns, short of intelligence and with many limitations. We ignore that within us there are great possibilities that, if properly developed, would lead us to the final victory.

Through the beautiful symbolism of this science game, we see the need to become truly intelligent players. To become aware of one's own game of life to awaken inwardly all the higher values that will make us real beings.

Gnostic wisdom invites you to deepen your knowledge on this and other topics through its free self-knowledge courses.