![Our Whole Life is a Game... [Kabbalah Quote]](https://www.kabbalahblog.info/wp-content/uploads/our-whole-life-is-a-game_450.png)
“Our whole life is a game because through games we develop.
Any growth in nature is carried out through play. Even the growth of cells is a game because they aspire to a future state that still doesn’t exist.
Spiritual development, too, is a game.
And as for children, the ‘childish’ games of every child determine the kind of person each of them will be.”
–Dr. Michael Laitman, in Children of Tomorrow
Dr. Anatoly Ulianov: If we look at the integral, global society in the process of evolution, then the playing zone also goes through gradual development, from the scope of a room to the whole world.
Dr. Michael Laitman: If only we could create that kind of game system on the internet and offer it to all of humanity! In this game, the reward would be good prizes or honors, things that attract all of us, who are little egoists. Let’s create a single human society, and call this game “Babylon.” But not Babylon in the negative sense of the word, but in the positive one.
This will be a game of cooperation. And it has to involve egoistic problems that gradually appear on all levels—emotional, personal, familial, between people, and between civilizations. It should include struggles over sources of food, raw materials, wealth, knowledge, fame, and power. And the people playing this game will have to find the solutions to these problems. Specialists, including psychologists, will add as many elements as possible into this game, meaning they will model it to evoke real emotions in people.
The game will gradually turn into a theater where the player will start playing the role of an integral part of society. Albeit virtual for now, he will already feel the involuntary changes happening to him and will see the positive results of this game in the real world. He will see how he and the space around him become kinder, safer, and more comfortable. In fact, this game could be turned into a system of integral upbringing.
I hope that a game like that will appear on the internet. That is why it is called “Inter-net”—a worldwide, universal system that connects everyone.
Dr. Ulianov: I don’t like computer games, but this one got me interested.
Dr. Laitman: It is an opportunity for us to create a person, to mold him! And he will do it on his own! By participating in this game, he will start seeing the opportunities to change himself for the sake of attaining a specific goal while receiving rewards “along the way,” including approval and respect, meaning everything that can help him move forward.
If an adult plays this game, children will see how he succeeds and how it pushes him forward. Or, vice versa, if the players are children who become successful at the game, the parents will be happy about it and will show them their approval. We have to use egoism correctly to move toward integration.
Look at all the internet communities! It’s all a game! So why don’t we make this kind of game? But we have to make it productive and aim it in a direction where it brings benefit. This kind of game will create a new type of individual who involuntarily sees precisely how he has to play in life. After all, we know that our actions change us.
Dr. Ulianov: Then we won’t have the problem of taking the children off the computer. We won’t need to.
Dr. Laitman: A child will take part in this and this will be his environment! Under the influence of this environment, every one of us will be able to try himself out.
And because globality and integrality will gradually become expressed in this system, through it we will be able to work out our subsequent behavioral models. I can turn to this game as if to an expert on the next steps I have to make, and as a result, I will make less mistakes.
It might seem like I am creating a game, but in reality I am creating a model of the correct society. If I move around there like a game chip, placing myself in specific levels, actions, qualities, changes, and communication, then I can see where I will succeed and where I won’t ahead of time. After all, the laws of the integral society, which gradually manifest in this system, will give me the right reaction, either negative or positive. That is how I will choose the best possible movement toward my goal of balance with the entire system, toward my most comfortable state.
Dr. Ulianov: And what is the center of this balanced system? How can I tell that I am moving precisely towards the center?
Dr. Laitman: That’s easy: I feel better there than anywhere else. On the one hand, I feel absolutely free, and on the other hand, absolutely connected to everyone, which gives me even greater freedom.
It’s astounding how by experiencing conflicting situations and influences, I feel that I am locked in a loop with all the other cogwheels, spinning along with them, since we are in one coherent game. We experience mutual pleasure, mutual expansion, attainment, understanding, and enjoyment. I receive everything and I don’t conceal anything from anyone. I enjoy being in harmony with others and bestowing upon them.
It’s just as in a ball game where the passes create the state of a game between us, where we interact with each other the right way. The same thing happens here, but to the full extent and on all levels, including animate and human. I begin to experience myself in the state of a global, integral, and wonderful game. Streams of communications flow through me just like a ball is passed in a game. We experience the pleasure of playing the game precisely in this harmony.
The above points were taken from the book The Psychology of the Integral Society by Dr. Michael Laitman and Dr. Anatoly Ulianov. Also available as eBook (PDF, Kindle & ePub formats).
Dr. Anatoly Ulianov: If we take a regular, traditional game, immediately a stereotype arises, the idea that it is a competition, and in the end one side will win and the other will lose.
When you talk about “winning” the global, integral game, what do you mean? What is the objective and result of the game?
Dr. Michael Laitman: The objective is not to act in a way that is doomed to fail because it is totally disconnected from the actions that are instilled in Nature, and which Nature will carry out anyhow.
If we act in even a slightly different direction from Nature, we will suffer to the extent of our deviation from Nature’s program. If I deviate 10 degrees from nature’s integral law of development, or if I stray 20 or 30 degrees, then there will be earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, financial catastrophes, or even wars.
If we started studying ourselves in relation to the integral governance under which we exist today, we could prevent many catastrophes and would gradually learn to feel and analyze our actions, to discern whether they are desirable or not. An old maxim says, “If you don’t know how to act, it is best if you sit and don’t act at all,” because by acting without knowing how, you stray from the right course, whereas by not acting, you just passively flow with the movement.
The above points were taken from the book The Psychology of the Integral Society by Dr. Michael Laitman and Dr. Anatoly Ulianov. Also available as eBook (PDF, Kindle & ePub formats).
Dr. Anatoly Ulianov: For some reason I just recalled a chance game that used to be popular. Where does the hope that people hang on games of chance come from?
Dr. Michael Laitman: When we cannot know exactly what the right decision is, we put ourselves in the hands of fate, hoping that there is a destiny, an unpredictable upper force that controls us, and we give ourselves over to it. Of course, in games we don’t take it seriously.
In life, however, we see that even when we plan ahead and want everything to go according to our plan, things unfold by different laws. That’s where a discrepancy between common sense, my established dogmas, and what really happens in life emerges.
How can I leave my dogmas and merge with the actions that are actually happening outside of me, under the influence of some external, higher force of Nature?
Humanity is entering a state of integral, global governance by Nature. Previously we did not notice it, but developed through the generations according to our egoism, changing ourselves, society, and the social orders.
But today we – individualists, egoists – are starting to find ourselves in a completely different format. We are included in a mechanism that operates integrally, like an analog system where all the parts are completely interconnected, mutually determining each other’s state, and no one has any free movement. A person influences the whole world with his thoughts and desires, not to mention the physical actions. This is called “the butterfly effect.”
There is a contradiction between how we were created, how we map out the world based on our nature, and how Nature actually works in reality. A discrepancy arises between the two systems. And that is when the desire to play emerges.
To play means to give yourself over to the will of the integral nature that controls us, which we cannot understand, and with which we cannot act in unison. Therefore, a person seems to give himself over to a force, a governance that comes from Nature. In a sense, he throws a dice, thinking, “The result does not depend on me. I am simply giving myself over to the whim of chance.” So what should we do?
If we tried to “team up” with Nature, we would win. Of course, we wouldn’t be thoughtlessly “throwing dice,” but we would try to penetrate the integral governance. And even though it contradicts our common sense, if we would try to come closer to this integral governance, we would see that sometimes it’s worthwhile to act in that integral manner, that the advantage of doing that is obvious.
The above points were taken from the book The Psychology of the Integral Society by Dr. Michael Laitman and Dr. Anatoly Ulianov. Also available as eBook (PDF, Kindle & ePub formats).
Dr. Anatoly Ulianov: A few decades ago Johan Huizinga, a cultural historian and philosopher, published a book titled, Homo Ludens (Man the Player), which became a kind of a cult-book. After its publication, people started talking a lot about the role of games in the development of man and life in general. So what is a “game”?
Dr. Michael Laitman: The extensive influence of games on human development has been known since ancient times. We like to play. And practically speaking, we spend most of our lives playing. Even my pre-dissertation examination in philosophy included a question on games.
Games are everywhere, including in math and in Nature. Games have a very important role in the development of animals and even plants. The element of playing is present in any transformation, in any forward movement from one state to another.
We observe the elements of a game even on the level of cellular development, the development of organism, and within living organisms.
No growth or development is possible without the presence of several possibilities. there always has to be a specific choice that is played out and made, and this choice is always made through playing. This can be explained using probability theory, mathematical theory, and others. Meaning, we see that Nature is playing.
Dr. Ulianov: Nevertheless, there is a notion that games are related only to childhood, and when a person grows up it’s inappropriate for him to play because he has to be more serious.
Dr. Laitman: Unfortunately, there is indeed such a notion. But of course, this is a dull perception of the world. When a person stops playing, he stops developing.
The above points were taken from the book The Psychology of the Integral Society by Dr. Michael Laitman and Dr. Anatoly Ulianov. Also available as eBook (PDF, Kindle & ePub formats).
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