Igo Figure Now

A figure is a number or a shape. But to figure is to slowly, clumsily, patiently make sense of something. We’ve turned figuring into “solve for X.” Go reminded me that real figuring looks more like: place stone, lose stone, pause, breathe, place again. Your turn You don’t have to play Go to borrow this.

I Go, Figure: What an Ancient Board Game Taught Me About Modern Life igo figure

When I don’t understand something, my instinct is to attack it — read faster, click around, ask three people at once. But last month, a friend taught me the board game Go , and suddenly I heard myself saying something I almost never say: A figure is a number or a shape

You can attack every stone your opponent places and still lose. Sometimes the winning move is to leave them alone and build your own quiet corner. I think about this now in meetings, in relationships, in creative work. Your turn You don’t have to play Go to borrow this