Playing the Game of Life

[KazeCraven]

Something I've realized over the years is that there's really no one "right" way to live. However, since then I've also noticed that each person who judges others as inferior or 'less than' is playing according to certain rules.

For a simple example, you can either play the righteous person game ("I'm above that kind of behavior.") or the "get what I want" game ("It doesn't matter what I do or whether I lie so long as I get what I want.") or the fairness game ("I can't take advantage of this person because she's too naive."), etc.

When I think about what game each person is playing, I find it hard to classify one way as right and another as wrong. On the one hand, we've got the powerful, the righteous, and the winners. On the other hand, we've got the pathetic, the immoral, and the suckers.

What are your reactions to framing the world this way?

 

[Wyote]

The game I play is the "don't play any game" game.

I just lost the game.

 

[Poetic Justice]

Anything can be framed in a good or bad way.

Anything at all

 

[bagelriffic]

yep agreed with poet, nothing really good or bad, unless you cheat Me that is lol.

i used to play the "holier than thou" game, mostly because i needed that inner justification that i was right and everyone else was wrong. playing that game was a lonely one indeed, when in all actuallity getting our toes stepped on, and being cheated is part of everyday life, nothing wrong or right about it, it just is.

 

[TinyBubbles]

Something I've realized over the years is that there's really no one "right" way to live. However, since then I've also noticed that each person who judges others as inferior or 'less than' is playing according to certain rules.

For a simple example, you can either play the righteous person game ("I'm above that kind of behavior.") or the "get what I want" game ("It doesn't matter what I do or whether I lie so long as I get what I want.") or the fairness game ("I can't take advantage of this person because she's too naive."), etc.

When I think about what game each person is playing, I find it hard to classify one way as right and another as wrong. On the one hand, we've got the powerful, the righteous, and the winners. On the other hand, we've got the pathetic, the immoral, and the suckers.

What are your reactions to framing the world this way?

you said it yourself, it's hard to classify anything as right or wrong because it is so dependent on personal preferences. i would say there's no OBJECTIVE right and wrong way to live, but that there is, for some, a personal right way to live. others live life moment to moment, with no overriding principles guiding their choices.

 

[Trifoilum]

I play the "We all play the different game" game... >___>

 

[Melkor]

Hey Kaze?

I think you should put more effort into the thread and less effort into making the thread title snappy.

 

[NeverAmI]

I think you are leaving out a lot of variables.

Eastern culture heavily emphasizes not yearning or desiring, it advocates non-attachment to the material realm. I often find myself torn between that and materialistic tendencies.

When I was younger I always stated that I could be just as happy in a cardboard box as I would be as the most successful man in the world, and I still believe that is true. External circumstance is not what brings sustained happiness, it can bring temporary effects, but ultimately that change has to occur from within.

So if you want to go linear, there are those that seek external stimuli (money, relationships, power, etc) to find the 'right' or happy way of life, there are those that seek inside themselves (spirituality, philosophy, religion), and there are those that don't seek at all.

Although I think each person does a bit of both, although I would go as far to say that more seek external stimuli than internal.

It is true that the external and internal cannot be completely separated, and I think both are important to an extent.

The movie Cast Away has an interesting portrayal of external stimuli being eliminated to a large extent from the main character, ultimately I think the time to himself forced more of an introspection and I think he returned a changed person.

I am Legend also has an interesting portrayal where the main character's primary relationship has been with his dog for a long period of time with little else to work towards except survival in a very basic sense.