78. Life Is The Greatest Game

At the heart of my life's philosophy is an idea about reality and human potential. The idea is bigger than me as it must be. It describes an approach to living that encourages creativity in solving our problems. George touches on it below.

The cognitive dissonance that George felt is enlightening. People will work hard if they are having fun. This seems obvious yet few of us consider how to solve this problem. We just accept that some activities are fun and others that are not.

"If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea."

― Antoine de Saint-Exupery

George tried to solve this problem but he made some errors. George drew a connection between reality and a video game. His theory is that this lazy yet hard-working person's reality was a poorly designed video game. He then suggests ways to gamify life to help other people make better video games of their lives. This is incorrect and I am sure if he tested his idea with this person he would see it fail. It would fail because it is not reality that is a poorly designed video game, but the person's interface with reality is inadequate. By interface, I mean this person's perception of reality. The theories in their head do not allow them to experience other parts of their life with the same or more fun as the video games they play.

So the problem is not reality but the ideas in their head. Reality is the greatest game, and we must chip away at those ideas preventing them from seeing the world as this.

“This is the real secret of life – to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realize it is play.”

― Alan Watts

The true object of all human life is play. Earth is a task garden; heaven is a playground.

― Gilbert K. Chesterton

I got the first seeds of viewing life as a form of play through learning hypnotherapy. I wrote a silly book of poems to share this idea with others called, The Now Is My Plaything. My philosophy has only gotten richer with meaning since then. Here is my philosophy:

My Philosophy

Every activity can be transformed into play through creativity. Every form of play can be viewed as a game. Play is any activity engaged in for fun. Therefore, life is the greatest game.

If you momentarily accept the statement above what could we draw from it?

1. Whenever an activity is not fun it is due to a lack of creativity.
2. The scope of a game is broadened. This encourages us to challenge our existing notions of games.
3. There is no external limit on fun.

Adopting this approach can lead to a more fulfilling and enjoyable life. It has worked for me, someone who is "lazy yet hard-working". Try it and let me know at @Chris_Cal_ or by email: christopher calvin govender at gmail dot com.