Life as a Game: How Do You Play?

While I’m no expert on the subject, I’m familiar with a concept in Hinduism (“Lila” or “Leela”) describing the universe and all of existence as like a play, a dramatic unfolding, in which all material things (including you and me) are playing roles, all characters in masks and costumes putting on a performance. Underlying these roles is a universal basic substance that plays no particular part, but also can’t be seen or touched unless as manifested through one of these characters in the play.

My own way of thinking as it relates to Lila is that life is like a game; one massive, sometimes fun, sometimes scary, sometimes painful game that we’re thrust into the moment we’re born and continue to play until we die (who knows after that?). A potentially shitty thing that can happen is that we learn from a young age to take this game very seriously and to play by the rules in order to “win” (what would “winning” mean or look like to you?). This can lead to what’s been referred to as the domestication of human beings, a programming of taking this game very seriously. To me, this domestication is like living on a game board, identifying totally with your game piece, and maybe even resenting both the piece you’ve inherited and the rules of the game.

I believe there is a possibility of seeing all of this clearly, seeing the game as a game, not in any sort of nihilistic “I’m just not going to play anymore” way, but in a way that you actually take control of the piece you are using and consciously decide how you want to play the game. You can imagine identifying in a deeper way with the basic substance of life and, while grounded within that substance, using your game piece (the role/character you show the world) to play in a way that feels good to you, that feels fun, that feels meaningful, all the while not taking it too seriously. “Charles” is my game piece, and I refer to this more generally as “iMe” (see my description of this). Right now, I’m attempting to tap into what feels meaningful to me, and to communicate it to you through my iMe game piece, through this particular move in the game of writing these words at this particular time. Then I can sit back and see what unfolds, knowing that I played the way I wanted to, and that’s all I can control. Who knows what will happen next.

1) What’s your game piece (your “iMe”) like?
2) What are the rules of the game?
3) How do you want to play?

*Watch this video from The Four Agreements for more on the domestication of human beings.