“It’s so easy, when you know the rules. It’s so easy. All you have to do is fall in love…” ~Queen, Play the Game
My good friend Lisis and I were talking about the meaning of life on Facebook a couple of weeks ago, and I shared the following opinion. As with all things Jayism, I don’t claim that this is THE truth, or even “a” truth. It works for me, it might not resonate with you. If you dig it, that’s cool, and if you don’t, that’s cool too. If there is one commandment in Jayism, it’s this: Find your own truth. So without further ado, here is the meaning of life, according to Jayism:
In the afterlife, everything is peace and love and good happiness stuff. There’s no anger, no fear, no jealousy. There’s no miscommunication, because everyone knows exactly what is in everyone else’s soul. Your spirit is intimate with every other spirit. Everyone knows everything about Life, the Universe, and Everything. There’s no questions, no answers. It’s beautiful and peaceful, full of light and love.
It gets old after a while. trust me. I’ve been there. There’s only so much “enlightened awareness” that a soul can take before going totally bonkers with boredom.
So we all got together, and invented this really cool game called life. We created a physical reality for ourselves, and we built rules and systems to make it function. We then agreed to follow those rules while we are in the physical world, and to forget everything we know about the “real” world. It makes the game more interesting, you see.
I’m pretty sure the first conversation went like this:
“Whatcha doin?”
“I’m creating a new world.”
“Bo-ring. Aren’t you tired of that by now? I haven’t created a new world in ages.”
“No, this one will be different. In this one, we won’t be able to do anything we want. We’ll have…um…um…like we need to invent a word that means “You can’t do whatever you want whenever you want.”
“Like the opposite of omnipotent? That doesn’t even make sense. How can there be an opposite to existence?”
“Dude! That’s it!! We need a world that is completely opposite from reality! Like there will be things we can’t do. There will be things we can’t experience. There will be things we don’t know!”
“Can’t? Won’t? You’re not making any sense. In fact, you’re starting to creep me out a little bit, which is odd, because until just now, I never experienced such a thing.”
“Chill. I got this. Check it out. The problem with creating new worlds has always been that we choose to experience them in our astral bodies. No matter what we create, it always ends up being the same, because we’re the same. There’s no challenge that we can’t meet, no obstacle we can’t overcome. We need a world where our minds and bodies don’t work…at least not completely.”
” You mean like we pretend we’re broken?”
“Yeah. Exactly. We pretend that we are broken. It’ll be fun!”
“Cool. Let me help…”
And so we created this physical universe, and we placed this world called Earth in it. We agreed to be physically born into this world, and in that process, we gave up our powers and our knowledge of the other side. We agreed to be bound by physical laws, and to be separated from each other. We agreed that we would feel happiness and sorrow, love and loss, fear, pain, uncertainty, and doubt. We even agreed to forget that it was all just a game, so that we would believe that it was all real.
There are no winners or losers in this game. The only person you are competing with is yourself, and the only point is to beat your own high score. You earn points by loving others, by becoming more caring and compassionate, and by overcoming adversity and fear in a positive manner. You also earn points by reconnecting with your true essence, by becoming more like the all-powerful and all-knowing being you really are. Peaceful, kind, and loving acts earn you points, while hurtful, selfish, or fear-filled acts cause you to lose points.
The ultimate goal is to remember and reconnect with your true self…the being you are on the other side. Doing that earns you a ton of bonus points, and makes it easier to gain points.
At some point, the game ends, and you go back to the other side, where you tally up your points, go through a peer-review process (Duuuude, I can’t believe you passed up that promotion! What were you thinking?!? Me? What about you and that girl?! Total fail!), and rest and relax for a while.
Until you get bored, and then you come back for another round. Game on!
Love always (it gets you lots of points!),
Jay
Oh, Jay, you really made me smile today. I’m sure that got you at least a few extra points.
I love this, Jay. You’ve brought a big smile to this Self’s face. Happy Day!
I don’t know how you did it, Jay, but you made an already wonderful story even better. When you posted the shorter version on facebook, I immediately felt a little peace come over me. This one, a little more robust, a few more details, made every cell in my body smile.
Of course I know it’s just a story, like all the other stories, myths and theories that seek to explain why we are here. But it’s one I can easily embrace. It’s as valid (or invalid) as any other, and does a great job of explaining why we’re so freaking clueless and lost most of the time. It’s nice to be able to feel like at some point we’ll get a break from feeling the anxieties we feel here… even if it is just make-believe.
Thank you, Jay, for a beautiful story… and for trying to help me through my existential angst. What can I say? When I heard: “pretend to be broken in this game,” I went all out. I’m an over-achiever that way.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Julie Daley and Meredith, Jay Schryer. Jay Schryer said: New, on Porsidan: The meaning of life: http://porsidan.com/play-the-game/ [...]
What fun guy you are, Jay.
You had me grinning… Especially with this one: “We pretend that we are broken. It’ll be fun!” I think you should write books for kids. Your dialogs are fantastic. Have a beautiful day, dear one. xoxo
Just goes to show you what a Facebook conversation can generate. It’s all a game, and we are either players or spectators in it.
Nailed it!
Jay,
OK I’m going to stop pretending today! Heaven is here there is no other place, heaven is now there is no other time. I’m not coming back again. But I’ll be available in spirit form to guide others;0)
@Meredith – I’m glad that you smiled. Making people smile makes *me* smile, and so I sure hope it’s worth points!
@Julie D. – I’m glad you loved it. Happy day, indeed.
@Lisis – Yes, it’s just a story, but I’m glad it made you smile and brought you some peace. And you’re only as broken as you feel, dear one. Just like you told me once upon a time…T’ain’t a thing in the world wrong with you! Much love to you, L’il Isis.
@Julie – Yeah, I love writing stories, and especially children’s stories. I even like writing them for adults sometimes, too. Writing a story for someone is the highest gift I can ever give, because it’s truly of myself. I’m glad *this* particular story made you smile!
@Eduard – Even the spectators are playing the game in their own way, they just chose a more passive role than the rest of us.
@Trish – Thanks! I’m glad you think so.
@Tess – I imagine that when the time comes, you’re gonna be an *awesome* spirit guide.
LOL thanks for the laugh rujho!
Gee hope
i can beat my high score
“The ultimate goal is to remember and reconnect with your true self…the being you are on the other side.” The other side sounds awful. I don’t want to be intimate with everybody. I’ll do my best not to reconnect with my “true” self and just stick with the self I know and love.
Jay. Very nice story and I believe it. Its gets hard sometimes as we forget its a game but then comes along a good story like this one, and we remember. Thank u .
This is similar to what is discussed in Sacred Contracts… it is an interesting way to look at life and the lessons we experience.
Sounds like an Xbox game I played earlier. Just gotta remember the combo moves..
No but really, what a great way to put such an elegant concept.
@Ernie – you’re welcome! Always a pleasure to see you here, my friend.
@Dot – That’s an interesting perspective. I had never considered that someone might not want to be unified with everything.
@Uzma -Thanks for being a believer. I’m glad you enjoyed the story, and I’m even more glad it helps you remember who you really are!
@The Exception – I think I’ve glanced through that book a time or two in bookstores. It might be worth going back to pick it up and read it for real…
@Yu – lol…xbox…the ultimate guide to life!
This is so close, Jay, to my own ‘pet’ theory of why there is a physical reality at all.
I play a bit with it in the first blog post on my other blog. I’m going to lose some points and do something that appears ‘bad’ and put a link here. But I think you’ll find it amusing and hopefully pleasurable, perhaps even insightful, so maybe I’ll come out even. [smile]
This is the first blog post from another blog of mine. (Yes, it’s *me* writing, btw)
http://www.godbeautyperfectionlove.com/2009/4/10/glenn/