Some animals engage in play. In many species, play is a feature of youth. The young participate in mock fights, hide and seek, racing and other sports. For many animals, the game eventually stops, and is eclipsed by the daily routine of life's basics. For almost all human beings the game never stops. For people in the west, life's defined by money and career and pursuit of arbitrary goals on a field defined by arbitrary rules. Most people are trained, from the very beginning of their education, to accept the rules without question. Around mid-life, when the first stink of mortality starts to set in, the arbitrary, and therefor pointless nature of the game starts to become more obvious.
The only real way to not play the game is to make conscious choices, which is easier said than done. Conscious choice implies full knowledge, and seeing beyond prepackaged alternatives.
Unfortunately, this quest for knowledge can also lead people into various traps. The most glaring example is offered by religious cults, or esoteric systems that are designed as a scam, or a scheme.
No comments:
Post a Comment