The Game
Okay... Let's play a game. First, a few terms and ground rules, or something:
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Terms:
you (or You if beginning a sentence) - That which most people think they are, i.e. their body, their mind, their emotions, the whole Per-Sona or personality thing.
YOU (still YOU if beginning a sentence) - That which is observing the above.... Awareness, Consciousness, Self, the Seer, the Witness, Atman, etc.
Box - Basically another term for 'you' (see above terms), and/or for any of the other personalities out there.
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Rules:
There may not be any rules. You have to decide. You see, this is the question which has been perplexing thinkers (and completely over the head of non-thinkers) for millenia.
Okay, so it looks something like this: There is a box, in fact, countless billions of boxes. They are all part of the game, and in the game - they ARE the game. Awareness, (YOU) then drops into these boxes and pretends to be that box (much like you might decide to be the shoe, the puppy, the racecar, etc. in Monopoly). However, YOU are NOT the box. YOU are only playing on being the box. However, as in anything, there is a certain attachment and/or identification with that box. In the game, due to over-strong identification with the box, you (the box) wants to improve the box, to lord it over other boxes, perhaps play fairly with other boxes, maybe love another box, bungee jump as your box, watch TV as your box, enslave other boxes, free other boxes, follow a particular Messiah Box (Jesus Box, Buddha Box, Jack in the Box), reward yourself for doing that well, punish yourself for not doing it well, become a really BUFF box, an extremely intelligent box, collect more houses and hotels on Boardwalk box....hopefully by now, you get the picture.
Now, the boxes, by nature, will tend to get into box clusters - by age, by belief, by political, spiritual, or gender correctness, and then, generally go to battle the other box clusters - either with soothing words (if they deem themselves morally or politically correct), with less soothing words, by bad mouthing each other, with sticks and stones, or ultimately with wide-scale destructive weapons. Very often, each box cluster will elect a box leader, or a stronger box leader will take command (either through force of power or force of persuasion of one sort or another).
Along the way, the boxes will be involved in a wide variety of experiences (or as Juno would say - "Shenanigans") and ultimately, for them, the game is over and the box deteriorates. While identifying with the box, there appears to be NOTHING more important than that partiular box (and in some cases others in their box cluster - although that is becoming MUCH less so - mostly, it's only about MY box...screw all the other boxes...or in extreme narcissism, "There are no other boxes!")
The point of the game: To play the game. In the end, the box goes away in nearly ALL recorded cases for thousands and thousands and thousands of years. A particular box is not going to really achieve anything. Oh sure, a few will be remembered for a few years or even a few centuries, on one little planet, in the vast history of time. So, the point, on one level is pointless. However, which would you rather do. Sit on your ass (like me most of the time), or get out there and DO something - do some damage, have some fun, make love to lots of people, be known for saving other boxes or other boxes' souls, or feeding boxes, or ...
Or, look for higher experiences, mystical "out of box" experiences, see boxes on other planes of existence, or even to recognize YOU, i.e. that which perceives the box, in which case, you may not have to come back and play the box game anymore.
Possibly, VERY possibly, you don't have ANY choice. YOU've come down into this particular box, and it has a particular shape and perhaps a destiny, an ultimate outcome over which you have no control. Even the apparent decision making, choice thing, is part of That box's pre-destined destiny. How can you know?
But, the bottom line here is that YOU are not the you box. YOU are what is apparently identified with the box, and thus with the game. When you play the game, there are certain rules which are outside of your control (if you have ANY) and certainly out of your jurisdiction. So, certain activites performed by the box result in a happy box, some in an unhappy box, some in a sadistic box, some in a loving box, and so on. But, the unhappiness, the suffering, is bound to come up AS LONG AS YOU identify as being you (or the box). Only the actual recognition that you are innately not the box, outside of the box, beyond the box, prior to the box, can you have some semblance of peace and freedom from the sufferings of the box, and, coincidentally to actually know what is TRUE. All aspects of the Game or just the Game - they are untrue by nature - temporary, illusory, small and insignificant in the GRAND scale of things, etc.
IT IS FINE TO PLAY THE GAME!
IT IS ALSO FINE TO SEE THROUGH THE GAME AND SEEK TRUTH!
YOU WILL PROBABLY BE CALLED TO DO ONE OR THE OTHER - OUTSIDE OF your CHOICE.
Seeing through the game, ultmately, is the smarter thing to do (at least that's what everybody in my box cluster tells me).
Good luck with the game. I hope your side wins.
------------------
Terms:
you (or You if beginning a sentence) - That which most people think they are, i.e. their body, their mind, their emotions, the whole Per-Sona or personality thing.
YOU (still YOU if beginning a sentence) - That which is observing the above.... Awareness, Consciousness, Self, the Seer, the Witness, Atman, etc.
Box - Basically another term for 'you' (see above terms), and/or for any of the other personalities out there.
------------------------------
Rules:
There may not be any rules. You have to decide. You see, this is the question which has been perplexing thinkers (and completely over the head of non-thinkers) for millenia.
Okay, so it looks something like this: There is a box, in fact, countless billions of boxes. They are all part of the game, and in the game - they ARE the game. Awareness, (YOU) then drops into these boxes and pretends to be that box (much like you might decide to be the shoe, the puppy, the racecar, etc. in Monopoly). However, YOU are NOT the box. YOU are only playing on being the box. However, as in anything, there is a certain attachment and/or identification with that box. In the game, due to over-strong identification with the box, you (the box) wants to improve the box, to lord it over other boxes, perhaps play fairly with other boxes, maybe love another box, bungee jump as your box, watch TV as your box, enslave other boxes, free other boxes, follow a particular Messiah Box (Jesus Box, Buddha Box, Jack in the Box), reward yourself for doing that well, punish yourself for not doing it well, become a really BUFF box, an extremely intelligent box, collect more houses and hotels on Boardwalk box....hopefully by now, you get the picture.
Now, the boxes, by nature, will tend to get into box clusters - by age, by belief, by political, spiritual, or gender correctness, and then, generally go to battle the other box clusters - either with soothing words (if they deem themselves morally or politically correct), with less soothing words, by bad mouthing each other, with sticks and stones, or ultimately with wide-scale destructive weapons. Very often, each box cluster will elect a box leader, or a stronger box leader will take command (either through force of power or force of persuasion of one sort or another).
Along the way, the boxes will be involved in a wide variety of experiences (or as Juno would say - "Shenanigans") and ultimately, for them, the game is over and the box deteriorates. While identifying with the box, there appears to be NOTHING more important than that partiular box (and in some cases others in their box cluster - although that is becoming MUCH less so - mostly, it's only about MY box...screw all the other boxes...or in extreme narcissism, "There are no other boxes!")
The point of the game: To play the game. In the end, the box goes away in nearly ALL recorded cases for thousands and thousands and thousands of years. A particular box is not going to really achieve anything. Oh sure, a few will be remembered for a few years or even a few centuries, on one little planet, in the vast history of time. So, the point, on one level is pointless. However, which would you rather do. Sit on your ass (like me most of the time), or get out there and DO something - do some damage, have some fun, make love to lots of people, be known for saving other boxes or other boxes' souls, or feeding boxes, or ...
Or, look for higher experiences, mystical "out of box" experiences, see boxes on other planes of existence, or even to recognize YOU, i.e. that which perceives the box, in which case, you may not have to come back and play the box game anymore.
Possibly, VERY possibly, you don't have ANY choice. YOU've come down into this particular box, and it has a particular shape and perhaps a destiny, an ultimate outcome over which you have no control. Even the apparent decision making, choice thing, is part of That box's pre-destined destiny. How can you know?
But, the bottom line here is that YOU are not the you box. YOU are what is apparently identified with the box, and thus with the game. When you play the game, there are certain rules which are outside of your control (if you have ANY) and certainly out of your jurisdiction. So, certain activites performed by the box result in a happy box, some in an unhappy box, some in a sadistic box, some in a loving box, and so on. But, the unhappiness, the suffering, is bound to come up AS LONG AS YOU identify as being you (or the box). Only the actual recognition that you are innately not the box, outside of the box, beyond the box, prior to the box, can you have some semblance of peace and freedom from the sufferings of the box, and, coincidentally to actually know what is TRUE. All aspects of the Game or just the Game - they are untrue by nature - temporary, illusory, small and insignificant in the GRAND scale of things, etc.
IT IS FINE TO PLAY THE GAME!
IT IS ALSO FINE TO SEE THROUGH THE GAME AND SEEK TRUTH!
YOU WILL PROBABLY BE CALLED TO DO ONE OR THE OTHER - OUTSIDE OF your CHOICE.
Seeing through the game, ultmately, is the smarter thing to do (at least that's what everybody in my box cluster tells me).
Good luck with the game. I hope your side wins.