Life is not a test.
But we often treat as one. We live our lives like a set of hurdles to overcome or a predetermined set of instructions to follow.
We are always at the ready, to study or to cheat someone or something, in order to achieve better results. We embrace the process of measurement. The feel the need to define, judge and be judged by others. We hate the very idea of infinity and more specifically, not knowing how we measure out against those we’re competing against.
We want to win.
We want to nothing more than to declare ourselves Champions. Champions of the game of life. Yet we are always stuck in a self-absorbed, mindless, results driven, data centered life, that all too often, leads to a burden which often consumes and makes us sick.
Life is not a test.
Life is a game.
An infinite game.
If there is a God, or even if there isn’t, all of existence and all the natural laws point to the fact that we were born to take part in everything. To do it with gusto. To live our lives and not merely exist. To become who we know we are meant to be. To be happy.
Such is goal of the infinite game.
A game we have always played, but sometimes forget that we play.
In the infinite game, there are no winners or losers, because the point of the game isn’t to separate the strong from the weak, but to spend some meaningful time together. To celebrate. To relish. To cherish. To find meaning and purpose in our lives.
You might be tired and frustrated this morning, probably because you are playing a finite game.
You’ve decided, on the advice of your guidance counsellor, that you must be someone or have something in order to be worthy, or belong.
You exist in the realm of doing, but you need to shift your energy leap into the universe of being.
The infinite game is pretty simple, although the rules themselves can become quite complex at times. But that doesn’t even matter because mistakes aren’t disastrous roadblocks, like they are in the other contest, they are simply fascinating lessons, to carry with you, in order to sharpen your skill, and become a better player.
Life is a game to be played with friends and strangers alike.
It is an infinite game precisely because it never ends. It can be played anywhere and everywhere. In all seasons, and on all budgets.
When you go to dinner with your dearest friend, for example, you certainly won’t go out, so you can become less hungry, and to continue your noble quest not to die. I think you’ll go out to share a meal together, to experience each other’s company, to laugh, or perhaps to cry, but the meal, the meal itself, is an inconsequential part of the equation.
We are funny creatures.
As finite beings who need to face our own mortality we become quite miserable when we engage in finite tasks and limited adventures. We are only happy, truly happy, when we participate in things that stretch beyond the temporal world. When we enter the real of faith, hope, and love. We are happy, when we don’t know why we are happy.
I encourage you to take a stand and decide which game you are going to play.
I strongly recommend investing more time in an infinite contest. The finite one has too many cranky, bitchy people in it, who are fighting over a very small square of space, while you have the opportunity to walk anywhere and be anything, surrounded by the luscious infinity of space.
Go out and play.
Never stop playing.
Enjoy the rehearsal.
Performance is a finite trap.
