'Fixing the Game' is a Trap....
instead become skillful at playing it.
Stillness is easy to maintain.
What has not yet emerged is easy to prevent.
The brittle is easy to shatter.
The small is easy to scatter.
Solve it before it happens.
Order it before chaos emerges.
A tree as wide as a man's embrace
Grows from a tiny shoot.
A tower of nine stories
Starts with a pile of dirt.
A climb of eight hundred feet
Starts where the foot stands.
Those who act will fail.
Those who seize will lose.
So, the sage does not act and therefore does not fail,
Does not seize and therefore does not lose.
People fail at the threshold of success.
Be as cautious at the end as at the beginning.
Then there will be no failure.
Therefore the sage desires no desire,
Does not value rare treasures,
Learns without learning,
Recovers what people have left behind.
He wants all things to follow their own nature,
But dares not act.
Tao Te Ching,
Chapter 64
I am not a big fan of video games. I didn’t grow up with them. As a kid, the only video games I played were Pac-Man and Space Invaders at our local Pizza Hut on Friday nights when my family and I would go out to eat. I was given 4 quarters, and when they were gone, I was done and had to return to the table to eat.
This is a stark comparison to children today who have never known a world without video games. When I was a child, I never imagined a world where one could play them at home or online with others. For the most part, we played board games, card games, and of course, participated in actual live sports. These days, I see fewer and fewer children interested in such things. I am hoping many of these things will make a comeback!
Games have existed since antiquity! The oldest known game in the world is the Royal Game of Ur, which dates back to 2600-2400 BC.
That being said, the object of any game, from the perspective of this player (me), is to prevent quick elimination, score points, and level up! That is fairly cut and dry. To accomplish these feats, there must be obstacles to overcome. Without difficulties to be overcome in the game, there would be no progress or victory! How boring would it be to play a game where you were automatically winning all the time, everything was perfect, and there was nothing to accomplish or seek? The struggle is what makes a game a game, and playing it skillfully is the goal.
We all think we want a life without struggle, but the game we are in, The Game of Life, has struggle written into it. This is undeniable. To believe otherwise is a trap. The Social Mind, Demiurge, Demon, Devil….or whatever title one would like to assign to the delusional force we humans contend with, wants us deluded and drained. We are here to delay elimination, score points, and level up, but many of us have been tricked into believing that we are here to fix ‘The Game of Life’. That is clearly not our role. History has shown us that this approach is never successful. Nevertheless,it never seems to stop us from trying. The Game of Life is purposely challenging, and from a Taoist perspective, we, mankind, made it that way through our creation of The Social Mind.
In Taoism, the Social Mind is the constructed mental framework that defines how we experience reality. It’s shaped by collective human conditioning—what they have taught you to believe is real. According to Master Mikel Steenrod, the Social Mind is a bad map. He states that it misrepresents reality, leading one into confusion, mistrust, fear, and dissatisfaction.
He tells a story of the Red Dust in China in one of his lectures that solidifies this idea. Red dust represents the social mind and refers to the mundane world and human experiences, often symbolizing the distractions and illusions that prevent one from seeing the truth. In the context of Taoist philosophy, it emphasizes the importance of transcending these worldly concerns to achieve spiritual clarity and understanding.
The consequences of getting caught up in the fantasy of repairing the game, rather than playing it, are severe. It’s rather like running into a brick wall over and over until one collapses from exhaustion or injury. It is a poor and unwise use of one’s power and energy. It drains one’s vital life force. Depleted energy, or Qi, can result in mental and physical illness and emotional problems.
Questions are powerful and only you have the answers you seek. So, in the Game of Life, perhaps it is wise to take inventory and ask ourselves, what are skillful and unskillful ways to navigate this reality? How might we be participating in our own destruction by virtue of how we play? Are we focused outwardly, attempting to repair the game and save the world? Or are we learning how to build and conserve energy, using it wisely to overcome the obstacles before us in our own lives, and level up?
Blessings,
April
Always loved games. Scrabble and Boggle were big in my house and are part of developing my live of vocabulary and reading.
Excellent! I can relate. In 80’ age 12, I remember being with friends (all male) at the arcade in the mall. I was throwing my $ away (I was not that good either), when a group of cute girls walked by. I left the arcade and hung out with them.
I had also just started playing D&D at that time. I was and still am a big fan. It inspired me to learn about everything.
Eventually D&D inspired video games. None of these had the social, creative, problem solving features that make an RPG fun.
Gradually new players more and more came from a fantasy “rpg” video game background and were more and more disappointed that TTRPGs were a slow burn that required deep interaction.
Never went back to video games until a few years ago. My kids received a pac man/galaga mini arcade style unit.
We had a lot of fun with it until, after a few months, the joy stick quit working. We went on with life never missing it.