Thanks to all who've contributed, especially Zeek for all his time and effort and willingness to share his thoughts while he's still working on them. Reading thru the entire thread has really sparked my own thoughts, especially regarding the game of life and how that game should be played. The good news is that I get to do much of that experimentation and homework on a foos table.
I'm an autistic savant and I tend to see things in different ways, especially pertaining to what's going on in the world. I'd just like to make a few comments on the last few posts to delve into this more deeply if it's ok. The comments I'll make are intended to help by offering a different point of view, based on what has helped me to understand my self and the world within and around me.
You might want to read this thread
http://www.foosball.com/forum/index.php?topic=3908.0 for a little background info and not so brief introduction since I'm not sure I know anyone here personally.
Anyway, here goes, starting with mental attitude.
Everyone HERE plays to win, but that's actually what's messed up with the world. We convince ourselves that there is only one way to win and that the winner MUST be us at all costs. This is exactly true, it's just misinterpreted due to the point of view that results from the very act of playing the game this way. It's the game, not the players that are to be hated here. This life is a game, a competitive race where being first to the finish line is the only criteria, but in the real world we're soon to become aware of, winning is not based on points, but rather how well you played the game using every imaginable criteria. Nobody sucks at anything because the number one criteria for play is having fun, everyone plays their best game all the time because being a fun opponent and giving a good game is all that's important, nobody ever thinks of "beating" their opponent because they are well aware of who actually receives that beating.
The best players I've seen in this world also tend to play the game for the game itself, they want their opponent to be at the top of their game because then they can be at the top of their own game. No good player wants to win because his opponent sucked - ever. It's way easier said than done because we're taught to win, but I am teaching myself to think this way because frankly - I'm tired of losing.
Do the math, if you equate fun with winning you're only going to be having fun when you do win, which means you have to win all the time (near impossible yet we still expect to = suffering) or you could try basing fun on - maybe having fun? It's a way better way to play, nobody cheats, style and creativity creep back into gameplay, smack talk becomes constructive and positive because you're now trying to coax the very best out of your opponent, winning is now about who has the most fun and all players are trying to perpetuate that.
So that's the new mental attitude I'm working on, and ofc we're not just talking about foos here, the entire universe is waiting for us as our playground when we learn how to play the game correctly, and we haven't even seen 90% of what there is to play with yet.
The next two posts kind of tie in together so I'll comment on them that way.
We make our own reality, not just in a sense but we are in fact in control of every aspect of it at every moment. Without going into the actual mechanics of how it works if you accept that for the moment then the begging next question should be obvious...
Why on earth, when we can create any reality we wish, do we choose to create this one? Not only create it, but stay in it and maintain the highest tolerable level of suffering? This is just more math, but the answer to any intelligent person who knows human nature is that it must be HUGELY worth it.
Suffering (or anything else here) isn't caused BY anything, it's FOR a cause - that "hugely worth it cause". Look at power generation methods, especially electricity. You polarize everything into positive and negative magnetic poles and then force them to interact as opposing forces, generating electricity. Reversing that creates a motor that uses electricity to animate, like little dynamos that work as generators and play as motors. See?
There is still cause and effect, but the cause is always ahead of the effect, not behind as it is when you say something was caused by something else - the latter isn't even possible.
Zeek, I think you're spot on with most of this stuff, what's missing tho is the realization that you have a lot more to focus on and think about when you figure out that you're actually controlling not only what you perceive to be you, but the player across from you, the table itself and even the time/space bubble that it's all happening in. It's all "you" and all of it requires focus to maintain, most of it done unconsciously on autopilot with regard to your primary purpose for being here. In reality we can each say that we're the only person here, not I am the only person here but we are the only person here - see? Yeah, I know how ridiculous that sounds until it makes sense. Like Lennon said "I am, You are, We are - all together.
I hope all that didn't come out too f'd up to understand, it's not the most understandable subject matter to begin with. I'm happy to field any questions, just remember that my responses are just points of view and that my overall world view still hasn't crystallized for me yet. It's actually in a pretty volatile flux state at the moment while I rework a few of the mental models I use to understand things.
Thanks again for making this a thread worth reading
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