Games we play
We, humans, we love games…
When we were children we used to play all day long. With years passing, we never really stop, we just forgot that we were playing.
Games are the core of any successful educational activity. Through them, we learn to interact with the outer world and also with the other members of society. Thus, one explores the limits of his (or hers) body and behaviour.
As adults, games an additional role, they help us create meaning. I see them as a web of stories in which we manifest agency. We were mask and act roles at work, with our friends or when we spend time with family. We all in some “mystical” way have knowledge of the rules of the games wich most of the time we invented in the first place but see them as divine. For example: social norms — I am not allowed to beat my coworker even if he annoys me deeply, no one stops me except myself. When it comes to “winning” things get more confusing because every player is free to establish his or her own definition of success: having a loving spouse, owning a BMW or being famous- “to each according to his needs” as Marx would say.
We construct our world based on games forgetting that those are no more than products of our fantasies. Over time the reality in our mind is so distinct from what it really is real that we get confused and lost when eventually we have to face things as they are. The curse of the modern man as I see it is that he inhabits is imagination too much-growing alienated from his true essence.
We construct our world based on games
We take life too serious, struggle too much to be perfect in an imperfect world. We create problems and things to be fixed where there are none. Games are good if they are instructional and entertaining, but poison for the soul when they keep us apart from answering the big questions. We use these games we play in our heads as an excuse, devices to hide from “not knowing” or lose time hoping someone or something would rescue us.
Don’t be too serious
Because of this, we don’t paint when we feel inspired… or spend time with our children because we have to write that report… when we don’t travel the world because we have to settle down… or when we are unable to just sit and breathe because we have this important thing we have to do…
Take a deep breath and move a step back. Think about the games you play and the stories you tell.
Yours deeply sincere and loving,
Alexandra
A year ago I starting writing and now I decided to look again at my work and see if it still fits my view of the world. This is the original article if you want to see if ideas have changed: Games and Artificial
