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Is life really a game? Faith, meaning, and Monty Python · Cultural Wars | America Out Loud News

0:01
Good day.
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Welcome to the Midday Report on the America Out Loud News Talk Radio Network, the counter momentum of spin.
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I'm your host, Dr.
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Franco Musio.
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To our friends listening in the United States and around the world, this week, we'll take a hard turn away from what we were discussing over the last uh several weeks the narcoterrorism, the opioid crises, the cartels.
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We were discussing this with former Trump uh drug czar, Mr.
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Richard Baum.
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My inspiration for today's shows culminated in last night's sermon, our local church, in which the priest began by encouraging, well, the encouraging statement, quote, this world is a mess, end of quote.
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And he started naming a few examples.
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For example, Russia's aggression, war with Ukraine, the indiscriminate killings in Iran, the ongoing terrorist activities in Nigeria and Cameroon against Christians, the um, oh my goodness, the past horrible treatment of Jews, the ongoing violence and crime in our country, and uh those around the United States, or I'm sorry, around the world.
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His point was that we are still called to be shining lights amidst uh darkness in the spreading uh and in spreading love, peace, caring for our fellow human beings.
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So I'll take that uh my fireside chat uh with the the title of this show, playing the game of life.
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Does Monty Python have it right?
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And as a side, the uh fireside chats, by the way, were um addresses given by Franklin Delanor Roosevelt, 32nd president of the United States between 1933 and 44.
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He spoke uh to remember seeing these pictures of families huddled around with with a fire fireplace in the background and huddled around the radio, and he was uh basically in a paternalistic type way, giving uh calming type type uh commentaries and such.
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So I'll try to emulate that.
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Anyway, playing the game of life.
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Does Monty Python have it right?
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Or the meaning of life.
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So this is the inevitable question mankind has struggled with for millennia, four millennia, uh uh the meaning of life, the underlying purpose behind our life on this earth.
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The greatest philosophers and theologians throughout the ages have tackled this topic from a multitude of angles.
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However, we're still left with anywhere from generic to deeply personal interpretations and beliefs, all cloaked in pragmatic to spiritual overtones.
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Much, much more to follow on the theologic and religious prisms, which, in my opinion, are absolutely key.
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But but let me start with a la uh a long introduction to this topic, if you will.
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So, the belief that life is a game.
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It's been widely accepted for centuries.
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This was epitomized by the American business magnate and father of the board game industry, Milton Bradley, who invented uh initially the checkered game of life in 1860.
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As per his patent application, the game was quote, intended to forcibly impress upon the minds of youth the great moral principles or virtue and vice.
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End of quote.
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So the goal of the game was to instill ethical principles uh among and moral principles, uh, among our youth, among the young people at various stages of their lives.
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And and and yes, uh brush strokes or foundations, if you will, for uh, or overtones of religion ultimately.
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Now, in celebration of Milton Bradley's company, the 100th anniversary of.
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Company, Ruben Klammer was hired to revise the game, and thus in 1960, he came out with the game of life.
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This iteration involved the players of the game in experiencing major life events, such as obtaining your job, starting a family, with the objective of earning the most amount of money, as I suspect mirroring the aspirations of the majority of those born in this baby boom era.
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And dovetailing with this was another board game, La Conquête du Monde, invented in 1957 by the French filmmaker Albert Lamaurice, who revised in 19, this was revised, I should say, in 1959 by Parker Brothers to risk the continental game.
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This particular one, this particular game, the last one, was the goal of capturing all the territories on the board.
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It was designed to reflect complexities of life with its unpredictability, the achievement of success through adaptability and astute decision making.
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Moreover, and and uh speaking to my title here, many will recall the hit 1983 British musical film, The Meaning of Life, which was written and performed by the six-member Monty Python comedy group, known for their surreal and absurd British humor.
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According to this troupe, the meaning of life can be summarized as the following.
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Avoid eating fat.
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Read a good book now and then, get some walking in, and try ultimately, try to live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.
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So, so this leads to this.
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It invites the subtopic living a good life.
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What does this mean?
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Well, living a good life, if you remember some of the five, or I do the some of the financial and brokerage companies, their commercials highlight this particular phrase, living a good life.
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And as my birthdays passes or pass, many of them quickly, uh, with increasing speed, it's only natural for me personally and us to reflect upon some of these fundamental questions with greater intent and greater focus.
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Life is clearly not an easy journey as it's rife with challenges, disappointments, and suffering.
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Conversely, the trials and tribulations, inevitably, inevitable in life, could be viewed and can be viewed and should be viewed as opportunities for eventual growth and prosperity.
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That is the proverbial taking the bull by the horns in dealing with difficulties and failures of life or in life.
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In fact, success, success in life is virtually impossible without failure, and often a series of failures, which are requisite for courage, learning, and wisdom, which is required for ultimately success.
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Mark Twain, remember him, is often credited with the very applicable aphorism, quote, good judgment comes from experience.
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Experience comes from bad judgments, end of quote.
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On the other hand, success in living a good life is highly subjective, uh with a multiple multitude, multitude of interpretations and nuances among human beings.
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What may be perceived as laudable and good by some could be viewed very differently by others.
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Another important consideration in one's initial reference.
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Reference point, that is one station and lot in life.
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That's very important.
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So, in the context of life viewed as a game, the following statement is attributed to the famed French enlightenment philosopher Voltaire.
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Quote, each player must accept the cards life deals him or her.
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But once they are in hand, he or she must alone decide how to play the cards in order to win the game.
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End of quote.
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So that's a pretty profound statement.
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Likely many, many have heard this in different ways.
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Oh different situations.
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Scholars and writers familiar with the works of Voltaire claim that this is not an authentic quote, although it's a summation of his thoughts.
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However, many can relate to a card game as a metaphor for life.
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We have no control over the hand we're dealt with and must play that hand, whether good or bad, according to the rules of the game.
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However, the manner in which those cards are played can certainly change a scenario into one that blossoms, for example, if initially dealt a bad hand, uh, or flounders.
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In fact, if initially dealt a good hand.
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So in fact, one's station and lot in life are not permanent, but are actually based upon one's navigation of the rules of the game.
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So among the enterprising individuals in this world, living a meaningful life is often construed as a proactive engagement, that is tackling its inevitable challenges with the goal of becoming stronger and wiser and thus strengthening one's portfolio.
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If you we can use that word, in ways to face future adversaries or adversaries or adversities.
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So the focus on achievement is the fuel necessary for the objective of success.
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As such, life is a journey requiring many choices, risks, and certainly hard work.
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Failures, yes, are requisite and should be viewed as learning tools in order to build resiliency and ultimately lead to accomplishment in the respective fields one chooses to pursue.
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So in fact, in point of fact, the theme of learning from failure is echoed by certain personalities well known for their outstanding contributions to the world.
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Nelson Mandela, one of the many, many uh memorable quotes is quote, do not judge me by my successes.
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Judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.
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End of quote.
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Thomas Edison, he's another one.
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Um, he viewed failure not as defeat, but as an essential feedback for success.
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There was a reporter with uh from uh a local local newspaper, um, and asked him kind of humorously, well, sir, after having tried 1,000 things to make a light bulb filament, aren't you disappointed that we've tried these 1,000 things and none of them work?
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Edison replied very well, oh no.
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Now I know 1,000 things that don't work.
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Basically, knowledge of what doesn't work is positively useful knowledge.
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Makes makes sense.
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So here's another one, Winston Churchill.
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I love this.
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Success consists of growing from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.
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And thus this invites the concept of perseverance, and we'll see uh it can also be applied in a religious theological framework.
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In fact, very, very well.
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So, in sum.
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The meaning and purpose in life.
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Purposes of life are derived by many driven individuals by successfully quote playing the game.
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This involves adaptation, accommodation, empowerment, and actively seeking the challenges of life.
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Furthermore, again, quoting this lat the last person, Winston Churchill, lightheartedness and levity and tongue-in-cheek, kind of humility are also ingredients that find this their place in this equation for success.
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Here's another quote.
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He was addressing, I want to say Congress, but no Parliament.
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Quote, for my part, I consider that it will be found, it will be found much better by all parties to leave the past to history, especially as I propose to write that history myself, end of quote.
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So does Monty Python have it right?
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Do they have it right?
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The meaning of life.
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Again, summarized is the following quote, try to be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book now and then, get some walking in, and try to live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.
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So what I talked about in these uh these segments, if you will, in this first segment of this show, I think, as an introduction, serves as a necessary prelude to a discussion of the spiritual underpinnings of the question implied in the title of this show.
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So striving for excellence will ultimately free us from the chains of mediocrity and stagnancy and enable the human race to progress and flourish in this life on earth.
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But there's a very, very, very important point that uh I think is obscure.
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Um what is often missed in our quest for excellence and success is the realization that the tools required for their effectuation.
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So I'm gonna repeat, the tools required for their effectuation are supplied only by God.
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This is the key.
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Furthermore, successfully playing the game cannot occur without God's guidance.
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In fact, the well-known idiom, uh, missing the forest for the trees is no better exemplified by the lack of recognition by many of God as the creator, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, the Trinity, uh, and the ultimate source for meaning and purpose in our lives.
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This, in my opinion, strong opinion, is the key to everything we were mentioning before in terms of the game of life and the metaphor that life is uh well uh a game is a game.
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And we talked about the different type of board game.
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So, in essence, from the perspective of Christianity and many other religions, life can never be associated with truly the metaphor of playing a game.
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In point of fact, life is a gift.
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Life is a gift from God, requiring a journey of faith for its maturation, achieved by prayer, many different ways.
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Prayer, ongoing study of the scripture, and emulation of the precepts articulated in the Bible.
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Um, and more to come on that.
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So uh we're gonna stop right now.
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Uh this sorry, excuse me, this first segment, station break to follow.
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And on the other end, we're gonna go into detail.
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We're gonna go into more intricate details.
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Of what does really success mean?
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And how can one be successful in playing the game of life?
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Actually, it's not playing, but it's being in communion with God.
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That that is what ultimately is the purpose of life.
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So more to come on the other side.
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Welcome back.
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Welcome back to the countermomentum of spin and our uh very simple, very simple topic.
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Um playing the game of life, does Monty Python have it right?
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Or we could say the meaning of life.
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Does Monty Python have it right?
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In our prior segment, uh I had gone through the um the metaphor of life being a board game, a a uh board game, or it could be a card game or any kind of game.
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We've we'd made metaphors as to uh being dealt series of cards or playing the game of life, which is um very very well publicized and known by Milton Bradley and such.
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The
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Um, and now and most recently Hasbro and different iterations of these quote-unquote games, and is life really a game?
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Is life a charade?
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Uh no, it's not a charade at all.
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Hardly, hardly.
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Uh, we went into uh missing what many miss is the what what life is all about and quote unquote playing this game, uh, which is not a game, but playing life successfully, and and how does one truly play the game successfully?
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Is it through a whole series of accomplishments and of course failures uh necessary for those accomplishments?
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Well, the the um work ethic in doing all this is very important, I think very important, but only in the context of being a reflection of God's image, Christ's image, and furthering and helping humanity when looked at in that way, in that manner, as opposed to, oh, I want to become rich from my uh and and add to my earthly pleasures and so forth and so on.
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Uh, no, that's that's missing missing the whole thing, missing the whole topic.
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So we started to talk about the perspective of Christianity and and also many other religions, in fact, all other religions.
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Life can never be associated, in fact, with the metaphor of playing a game.
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In point of fact, life is a gift from God, requiring requiring, requiring the journey of faith for its maturation, and how how does faith uh mature?
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Well, many different ways, but prayer, of course, ongoing study of scripture, and emulation of the precepts articulated in the Bible, and we're going to talk about different religions and and their different holy books.
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So, as mentioned, the above is not to downgrade work ethic.
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And in fact, work ethic requires pain, sweat, tears.
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Um there was a song like that too, sweat and tears.
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Anyway, uh, in the quest for success and accomplishment.
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However, we're to interpret hard work, effort, and their fruits as only possible through God.
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If God did not exist, we would not be able to even contemplate the achievements of Leonardo da Vinci, who is, by the way, way, way, way above his time, and uh very well-known uh Albert Einstein or or other physicists, for example, who have all uh been very important in upgrading and progress in our our our lives.
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So interpretation of this is possible only through God, is a testament to God, and to be carried out in his name.
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I I'm I'm somewhat private about this, and of course, evangelical thought is uh is spreading the gospel.
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We can spread the gospel, we can spread these in in many different ways.
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Um, but the point overlooked is that we are created in the image and likeness of God, therefore the focus of our life on earth should be the growth of a loving relationship with God, with Jesus, with the Holy Spirit.
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Um and this truly supplies the true significance of life.
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So concurrently, the Christian perspective adds this all-important connotation that human achievement is a function.
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As I mentioned, of God's plan with the aim of furthering his kingdom on earth.
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So meaning and purpose in our lives, therefore, are not based upon external metrics or criteria.
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How much money do I have?
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How many jewels does this person or that person have?
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How many houses?
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One.
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But how many houses does that person have?
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And by the way, that adds to this must be a very, very important person.
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And this is a very good person and all these other things.
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So rather all of the gifts that we have, we all have different gifts, but they emanate from the grace of God, teachings of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and our evolving, evolving journey of faith.
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That's that's a key word, evolving.
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The ultimate emphasis resulting in successfully playing this game was no better exemplified than in the book of Ecclesiastes, purportedly authored by King Solomon himself, as he searched for the significance and meaning of life.
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So I'm going to quote quote.
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My wisdom also stood by me.
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For my heart was pleased because of all my labor.
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And this was my reward for my labor.
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So I considered all my activities, which my hands had done, and the labor which I had exerted.
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And behold, all was futility and striving after wind.
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And there was no benefit under the sun.
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This is Ecclesiastes 2, verse uh 9, line 9 through 11.
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So in effect, my interpretation of this is that the material and psychological rewards of King Solomon successfully playing the game were basically meaningless, unless performed with the intent of always helping others, and thus in the context of transcending the temporal.
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And as an obligate correlate, this will lead to a closer relationship with Jesus, the Son of God.
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Um again, I mentioned the Trinity, but Jesus, the Son of God, the Father and the Holy Spirit, all three, the triune God.
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That's a whole nother topic that I hundreds, thousands of years to try to figure out or get our hands around or our brains around.
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So our roles are therefore to reflect the precepts embodied in the teaching of Jesus Christ and uh contribute to the kingdom of God through acts of love toward our neighbors and dedication to good works.
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All in all, Money Python appeared to have it partially correct, partially correct in an abridged version of their meaning of life.
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Quote, try to be nice to people and try to live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.
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So paraphrasing that paraphrasing those words is try to live together in peace and harmony, basically to spread love, spread love to your neighbor, try to be nice to you to people, well, love other people, love your neighbor as yourself, and um people of all creeds and nations.
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That that includes uh if you're Christian, clearly non Christian.
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If you're non Christian, it includes Christian, it includes all people.
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So I want to get into just a little bit here.
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I I am
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Do not profess to be a theologian in any way.
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I am not part, I should have said this earlier on.
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I am not part of the clergy.
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I am not, although I have a number of very close friends who are from different denominations within the Christian religion, but also in other religions around the world as well.
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So I am gonna do my best in speaking about the Christian perspective on life.
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And then I'm gonna talk about the Jewish perspective of life and the Judeo-Christian perspective of life, put these together, and then I'd like to go into a little bit Hinduism and Buddhism.
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I don't again profess to be an expert in any of these religions, uh, although I am faithful as a Christian, and and try to um work harder and harder in terms of perfecting them, never never perfect it, obviously, but but uh trying to have it evolved and mature.
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So the Christian perspectives of life, there they are replete with eternal significance, eternity.
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And not talking about temporal being on this earth, but eternal uh meaning um the spirit the spiritual domain.
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So where the ultimate goal is heaven.
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This requires faith, requires following Jesus' examples, many examples, and persevering through earthly trials by playing God's rules.
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Where are they found?
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They're found in the Bible and and many other writings.
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And with this to develop one's soul and achieve a spiritual victory, if you will, over sin and evil, rather than what we spoke about before, worldly success.
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So it's a journey of steward.
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And don't take me wrong, worldly success, I think, as I mentioned before, is very important if one is uh apt to and and wishes to contribute to the kingdom of God, but but only through that through that prism.
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Um, to know that we are that worldly success reflects God's image, and uh it's not an end to itself, hardly.
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So we we mentioned about victory over sin and evil, the the goals of Christianity rather than merely worldly success, but it's a journey, faith journey is one of stewardship stewardship and spiritual growth, and it contrasts greatly with temporal or temporary, I should say, temporal, temporary, yeah, they go together, earthly pursuits uh with the eternal realities, emphasizing what?
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Emphasize, emphasizing God's glory, emphasizing love, emphasizing service, and just like Monty Python said, um, being together, living together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.
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So key themes and interpretations of the Christian prism, the Christian viewpoint.
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Um, and and again, these are my uh surmising and putting things together.
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I am not an expert in this, but the purpose and goal, for example, is the ultimate goal isn't earthly achievement, but it's eternal life with God.
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Life's purpose is to develop the eternal soul through choices and spiritual growth.
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We're always evolving evolving, we're always growing.
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Is there a playbook?
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Well, yeah, the Bible serves as.
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The game plan, if you will, or the instruction manual.
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I'm not making light of it, but it clearly guides uh the players, us human beings, towards success, which is what eternal life.
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And success on earth would be following Jesus' path.
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The stakes is could it be between good and evil?
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Yeah, you can look at it that way.
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Good being uh God's kingdom, evil being Satan.
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Uh, and there are certainly choices, important choices to take in going through either route.
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Clearly, the better route is through God and reflecting God's uh eminence.
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So the journey, life is an adventure, it has virtues, it has vices, it requires perseverance.
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We talked about perseverance and commitment, much like competing in a race or again the game.
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Uh, the perspective, perspective would be to focus on eternal unseen things rather than and unknown.
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That's where faith comes in, the mystery, mysteries come in, unseen entities and things rather than temporary earthly pleasures, recognizing that earthly life is temporary.
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We're the song, the very good song, we're dust in the wing in the wind.
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We are just dust in the wind.
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Remember that?
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Uh, I want to say it's from um journey, but yeah, and winning.
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What does winning mean?
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Is is winning a compilation of life's titles and such.
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Well, you can look at it as spiritual accomplishments, serving God, that is winning and receiving his favor, not just worldly accolades.
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Game of life, we talked about the board game, the classic board game.
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It does have Christian roots.
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We mentioned that, designed to teach moral lessons, uh, especially to younger people about virtue, vice, making good choices.
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Yeah, it does.
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So the bottom line is from uh a Christian viewpoint, follow Jesus, pray and study, serve others, develop character, spiritual character, focus on eternity.
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Um these are mysteries in a certain sense.
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So the meaning of life is not a mystery in the sense of following God, but there are many mysteries that are embedded within faith.
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So ultimately, ultimately having a relationship with God is key to other relationships, other temporal relationships we have with other beings, our spouses, our significant others, our children, ourselves.
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Uh, but ultimately, ultimately glorifying God and enjoying that relationship and having that relationship mature uh is is so important.
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So if I could say the bottom line, if there is a bottom line, the bottom line is uh knowing and loving God.
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How do you know and love God?
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Well, it's it's not easy, nothing is easy, especially in uh dealing with this as well, uh, the the spiritual domain.
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Uh no, it's not easy.
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But Jesus Christ, God, the Father, Holy Spirit, the triune God will reveal themselves, the more we reveal our desire to be with Him, and if you will, them, the three persons in God.
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So the relationships over religion, knowing God intimately, rather than just having information about Him, we could read all the books in the world.
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And we could, in an academic sense, try to grasp all there is to, well, not all there is to grasp, but a good amount.
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But but not having a relationship with him, not truly being involved and experiencing experiencing relationship with him, then it's for not.
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And that comes from worship.
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It comes from all different types.
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Yes, going to church, yes, praying, etc.
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So reflecting God's image, uh, the transformation that life is a process of being conformed, if you will, to the image of Jesus Christ.
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Um placing our desires with divine virtues, like love, compassion, and holiness.
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These are divine virtues.
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Um service, if you will, the Great Commandment, uh, love for your neighbor.
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That really is one of the uh among the different commandments, the most important, if you will, so uh meaning is discovered when a person loses their life in order to focus on God and others, and paradoxically finding their life by doing that.
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So the eternal perspective, uh through worship, fellowship, the discipleship, ministry, and yes, evangelism, evangelism among all denominations of the Christian church, uh, Christian religion are extremely important.
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We're gonna go into the other religions of the world.
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Welcome back.
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Welcome back.
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It's really the counter momentum spin uh on the uh Out Loud, America Out Loud News Talk Radio Network.
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I'm your host, Dr.
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Franco Musio.
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Prior segments, we certainly talked about life as being, excuse me, a game, uh, but uh it is not a game as we think about it.
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Uh and and we we delved into the temporal aspects and of course the spiritual aspects.
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And we're gonna talk a little bit, these are my interpretations and my thinking processes, thought processes, about other perspectives of life through the eyes of other religions.
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So, for example, the Jewish perspective.
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The Jewish perspective, life is
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Sacred, it is a purposeful journey, not a board game or a trivial game, and it emphasizes responsibility, meaning and repairing the world through actions such as prayer study, commandments, where individuals must actively strive.
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Doesn't come to us on a silver platter, actively strive for growth and repair life's brokenness and preserve life itself.
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In fact, Jesus Christ was a Jew.
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The bottom line is love your neighbor.
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And of course, there's so many different permutations that come from that.
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But Jesus Christ was a Jew.
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And so the meaningful endeavor, excuse me, life is serious.
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It's a meaningful endeavor, focuses on purpose, not just winning material prizes.
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So life in terms of the Jewish concept, life is a precious gift from God, as in the Christian thought processes, and every individual is tasked with preserving and enhancing it, not squandering it away.
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Purpose-driven existence.
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Yes, Judaism aims to give life deep meaning and purpose and importance, uh, contrasting with uh with superficial goals.
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And drinking some coffee here, I apologize.
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Um action is important.
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Life, of course, we mentioned has its ups and downs, that that's implicit in life.
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But uh Jews believe in actively working towards good, using prayer, repentance, charity to influence influence outcomes rather than passively spinning the wheel, if you will.
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Again, uh uh a metaphor of a game, the game metaphor.
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Uh Judaism encourages being, of course, focused, alert, conscientious, supportive, um, being there for our fellow human beings, uh, using true life is found within the Torah.
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Now, this is interesting.
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The values of the Torah guiding one's spiritual and ethical pathways.
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The Torah is a very important part of the Jewish Bible, the Hebrew Bible, the Tanakh.
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It's the first five books of Moses, Genesis, and Deuteronomy.
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Uh, the Hebrew Bible itself consists of 24 books, divided into three sections.
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We have the Torah, we just spoke about the Nebiin, the prophets, uh, and uh Ketrim, which is writings.
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So the Jewish perspective of life centers on sanctity and purpose in serving God and also humanity.
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It emphasizes actions, ethics, fulfillment of the divine commandments in this world.
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And the key word here is this.
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Uh, it sees life as a partnership with God to perfect creation, but it's it's more of this world, this world focus.
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So it valuing earthly existence and deeds, with the ultimate goal being to live a meaningful and purposeful life, rooted, of course, in the Torah, and making one's life a testament to spiritual and ethical values.
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While the afterlife, and this is a big difference between Judaism and Christianity, the the um the afterlife is a concept, it's whole it, but it holds less focus than the immediate, tangible actions of the present, with varying views of what comes after death.
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So
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So the focus is more on this life on earth rather than what happens after we die in terms of heaven and the afterlife.
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And again, the contrast with Christianity.
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So life is considered sacred, the sanctity of life.
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It's infinitely precious.
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It's commanded by God.
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And there is purpose.
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Humans are partners with God in creation.
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So divine purpose, tasked with bringing holiness into the world through actions, not just belief.
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The Torah is the guide, we said, living according to the wisdom and ethics of the Torah, which is God's word, is central to fulfilling life's purpose, and action overma.
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So deeds and behaviors, ethical behaviors are paramount in terms of shaking, uh shaping one's destiny, one's spiritual destiny, more than these abstract beliefs and even beliefs about the afterlife.
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So Judaism, what is the focus in terms of this world?
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Justice, growth, making a difference happening on earth.
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The Hebrew Bible, it's interesting that it has minimal focus on the afterlife, because the goal is basically to partner with God in the physical world, the temporal world.
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Again, it acknowledges life after death, but it's less dogmatic about it.
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Uh and it allows for quite a bit of diverse personal interpretations, which are very interesting and not the focus of this show, but um, but very, very interesting.
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The spiritual world, well, the current world where we're the righteous experience reward.
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There is also some reincarnation there, but um again, I'm gonna not focus on that, and and waiting for the Messiah.
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This is the difference, a key difference between Judaism and Christianity, waiting for the Messiah and the bodily resurrection of the Messiah.
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So in Christianity, the Messiah has arrived, had arrived in uh Jesus Christ, whereas most Jews do not believe that there is a segment, as I believe that, as I I understand that do believe that Jesus was the Messiah, but the vast majority believe that, of course, he was a very important prophet, but not the Messiah.
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And spiritual fulfillment, uh, the focus remains on using this life to achieve spiritual fulfillment, and achievements in this physical world are what matters the most.
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So each person is seen as to a world in a way unto themselves, with the capacity to reach highest fulfillment and contribution to creation.
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So the meaning, ultimate meaning of life, if you will, uh comes from a connection between the divine and the finite human being, finite humanity, and of course, excuse me, within the framework of the commandments.
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Now, let's put these two together, Judeo-Christian perspective.
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Our country was built on the Judeo-Christian, uh Judeo-Christian, I'm sorry, um, ethos, uh, melding, melding, Christian and Christianity and Judaism.
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And how do we interpret that or use that that blend in terms of the game of life?
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Um, well, we still have these, the lens of divine purpose, stewardship, and eternal accountability.
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So I
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Unlike the bar game, life with both both religions is a sacred journey.
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And it's not governed by us, it's governed by God's laws, where choices have consequences.
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Way beyond, way beyond the board game.
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So same thing.
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We both, both Christians and Jews believe that life is a sacred gift.
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Life is not casual game, it's not trivial.
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It's a gift from God and an intrinsic good.
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Every human being is created in the image of God, both religions, which provides inherent value that remains constant regardless of worldly success.
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The divine law, well, it's uh defined by the Torah and the Bible together.
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These rules, such as the Ten Commandments, are viewed as are viewed as essential for building godly character and showing love to both God and others.
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And uh, yes, there is uh an emphasis on future judgment, perspectives are use the metaphor of the final score, if or such, where individuals are rewarded or held accountable for their actions.
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That's a whole nother branch, if you will.
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I'm not going to get into that.
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But um life is not a finite game, it is an infinite game focused on relationships, spiritual growth, and service.
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And this is key to both both religions.
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So if we look at the materialistic or secular game versus the Judeo-Christian life of faith.
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So the ultimate goal uh in the secular is winning, is it retirement, having a good life, a good financial life, the treasure, wealth, achievements, uh, the strategy, doing it my way, obstacles are to be avoided or to be overcome.
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This is again the secular, materialistic.
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Although the Judeo-Christian prism viewpoint is uh ultimately sainthood, but how many of us were are to be saints?
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But um, you know, finishing well, having our Judeo-Christian, our pathway of faith, um, having uh achieving heaven, and ultimately there, yeah, the the Jewish religion does ultimately speak to heaven, but not as much as that of the Christian faith, uh, dependency of God, trials building character, but within the context of, within the context of serving God and serving his kingdom, both both religions.
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So stewardship of time, because days, of course, are limited.
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Why we we are under the dimension of time, um maybe not the uh the right word dimension, but we live, we are in uh encapsulated with time, whereas eternity has no time.
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But our days are limited, they're given by God, believers are called to be stewards of their time wisely, both Jews and Christians, balancing rest and leisure with, of course, biblical responsibilities, and um, and part of that is family and work, faithfulness, faithfulness, extremely important, notwithstanding what hand we're dealt, um, but faithfulness in God and his teachings and purpose over pleasure.
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We have a purpose on this earth.
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Both Jews and Christians agree that our purpose is to serve God, and although Christianity
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Christianity goes from the temporal to the eternal, more specifically as opposed to the Judaism, nonetheless, very, very important.
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Now, what do the Hindus say and what do the Buddhas say?
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And this is I think, I think, also very enriching and very uh important.
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So both Hinduism and Judaism, life can be used, yes, as a game or a play, a play.
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And though the nuances of this metaphor differently, uh, particularly regarding the nature of reality and the ultimate goal.
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So let's look at the Hindu perspective.
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They talk about a divine play or the concept of Laila Lila, uh, Sanskrit for play or pastime.
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It's just that the creation and functioning of the universe is a spontaneous, joyful, and creative expression of the divine, Brahman, or a specific deity like Krishna.
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So life is a cosmic drama in which all beings participate.
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This is their um ethos.
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So some key aspects of the Hindu perspective, spontaneous creation.
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The universe is not created for a specific purpose or out of necessity, but from the outflowing bliss and playful nature of the divine.
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Well, yeah, there's parallels there with Christian thought.
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The role of Maya, the world, while it's uh well, not an illusion in the sense of being unreal, is perceived through kind of magic creative power or maya.
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So individuals under the spell of Maya confuse the uh the forms of the divine play with objective reality without really perceiving the underlying uh unity of Brahma.
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So, have I got you confused?
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Life is seen as a game with multiple chances, reincarnation to understand its true nature.
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So the goal is to eventually win the game by achieving liberation, they call it moksha, from the endless cycle of birth and death, samsra, and realizing one's unity with the divine.
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So I find that fascinating.
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So the idea of Laila encourages more, yeah, more or less a lighthearted yet sincere engagement with life's challenges.
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So take life less seriously, if you will.
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So although we should we all should learn from that to some degree, we should participate fully like an actor in a play and perform one's actions, karma, with involvement, but without being overly serious or attached to the outcome.
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So there is something to learn from that, I think.
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Um, the Buddhist perspective, so that this is different.
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It does not use the term the term divine play.
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And it may be more of a game analogy to illustrate specific points, such as an impermanent and interdependent nature of existence or the process of spiritual training.
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So some key aspects are training and merit accumulation.
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Life is often used as a place for training the mind, accumulating merit, developing wisdom and compassion.
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Challenges are seen as opportunities for growth, not just obstacles.
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Okay, uh we talked about that.
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So impermanence and non self.
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So a central teaching is impermanence, or they call it anika and anata, non-self.
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The sense of having a permanent individual self is an illusion created by our thoughts and conditioning, which is a root cause of suffering.
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So viewing life as a game can help detach from this egocentric view.
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Cessation of suffering.
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So the ultimate purpose of life is to understand suffering and its causes, leading to the cessation of suffering and the attainment of nirvana or enlightenment.
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The goal is to stop playing the karmic game, so driven by desire and aversion.
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And then mindfulness and wisdom.
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So the path involves mindfulness, ethical conduct, following the noble eightfold path, and developing insight into the true nature of reality.
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So what they say is an enlightened person sees through the illusion of a separate fixed self, but still acts with compassion in the world.
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So very, very interesting concept.
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So in essence, Hinduism views the game as a beautiful, albeit sometimes challenging, dance of God.
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While Buddhism sees it more as a serious, albeit temporary process of mental training to overcome the fundamental illusion of a separate self and suffering.
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So here we go.
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Here we are.
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Have a great day, and of course, God bless you.