Is Life a Game or a Play?

Is Life a Game or a Play?

A reader continued to take issue with my comments about life not exactly being equivalent to a play. He said he had an out of body experience where “I found myself on a stage in a giant rotunda. The audience was giving me a standing ovation.” He said he saw there were “49 levels from the beginning to end of a creative expression.”

The 49 levels make sense as it agrees with the esoteric writings which tell us there are seven cosmic levels each consisting of seven sub levels wherein we are at the lowest ebb.

In the whole scheme of things, the “play idea” does not exactly correspond for one must always consider this principle that correspondence of below with above is never exact, but always involves a twist, for in each level of creation the Intelligence of God seeks to do something new and different.

I submit that life is more like a game than a play. An actor giving a good performance may receive an applause, but a player in a game making the winning score is the one who really gets the mind-bending accolades.

There are similarities between a game and a play, but also significant differences. The main difference is that the script is all predetermined in a play and there is no free will to go off script.

In a game the rules are predetermined and because of past performance you may have ideas as to how the game will play out, but you do not know for sure. As you play you can make a split-second decision that may dramatically change the result of the game. If you succeed you will get the applause that you sensed.

On the other hand, both a play and a game are performed before an audience and the players receive accolades if they perform well.

Shakespeare himself said that “All the world is a stage and the men and women in it merely players and each person in his time plays many parts.” This also corresponds to comparing life to a game.

That said, some people take this idea of a predetermined script too literally to the extent that they believe that even Hitler was really a good guy and agreed beforehand to play the bad guy and kill millions of Jews and the Jews who suffered also volunteered for the part. Then after death Hitler and the Jews sang kumbaya together.

Let’s face it, no one in their right mind would volunteer to be tortured or starved to death or watch helplessly on as their loved ones suffer. Many of the parts that are played here are not voluntary but we are plunged into undesirable situations because of karma or the need to learn to be better players. Hitler did not plan on creating the negative karma for himself that he materialized, but was captured by illusion in the midst of the game and played out the role that illusion led him toward.

One of the reasons that life seems like a play to many is the sense that we are being watched by unseen beings. This makes it seem that we are actors on a stage performing for a host of watching beings from the unknown.

Even here the “play idea” breaks down somewhat because over 95% of any life is pretty boring and not worth watching whereas a play is written so every line is important and geared to having the whole thing watched to be understood. Then, with a game, there is much timed spent in preparation that would be boring to watch.

Also, on this earth there are many who have nothing much of interest that would attract attention if they were a part of a play. I think I speak for many in saying that if I were in the spirit and able to watch whoever I wanted there would only be a few I would find interesting enough to watch.

I know in my own life I am watched now and then. There may be a guardian angel or two helping me to stay out of trouble and danger, but as far as watching me because it is an interesting thing to do I sense this happens just once in a while. I will add though that Higher Lives tune into lower lives and can be aware of them while doing other things, thus eliminating extreme boredom while maintaining awareness.

I had an experience once when I made a life changing decision that afterward I was made aware that many spiritual beings were watching me. It wasn’t as if I was in a play though but more like I was in a giant arena making a game winning decision. The decision was more important than I realized as numerous concourses of beings were cheering me on with great jubilation for the decision I had made. Because of this decision certain things were going to manifest in the future, but from their eyes it was as if the manifestation were already in the present.

I remember the episode of Star Trek you mention where Picard lived an entire life within a few minutes of normal time. This is indeed a possibility and from some spheres of existence a whole lifetime here would seem but a very short time.

I think your sense of being watched like you are an actor in a movie could indeed be real but most likely you are watched for two reasons:

 First, you have lived an interesting life. Secondly, successfully navigating your life to a good end will mean that many people will benefit. This fact draws the attention of “watching lives.”

Overall, the purpose of life is very simple. It is about having an interesting experience, and if life becomes interesting enough the path of joy will be discovered.

“At the height of laughter, the universe is flung into a kaleidoscope of new possibilities.” — Jean Houston

July 12, 2009