Book 315 - A Year of Magical Learning

Reflection Title: The Game of Values!

Book – The Finite and Infinite Games by James Carse

Book Description:

“There are at least two kinds of games,” states James Carse as he begins this extraordinary book. “One could be called finite; the other, infinite.”

Carse explores these questions with stunning elegance, teasing out of his distinctions a universe of observation and insight, noting where and why and how we play, finitely and infinitely. He surveys our world - from the finite games of the playing field and playing board to the infinite games found in culture and religion - leaving all we think we know illuminated and transformed. Along the way, Carse finds new ways of understanding everything from how an actress portrays a role, to how we engage in sex, from the nature of evil, to the nature of science. Finite games, he shows, may offer wealth and status, power and glory. But infinite games offer something far more subtle and far grander.

Reflection:

You know what I love most about values, they are nothing and everything at the same time!

Values can be meaningless words on a piece of paper, or they can be the operating system that guides you through life, shapes your view of the world, and provides a compass on how you navigate this infinitely complex thing we call our world.

Values are not an infinite game; they are better! Values are a finite game within an infinite game.

What do I mean by that?

I’ll give you an example – Let’s dissect my love of tennis really quick and you will see.

Over the years, I’ve discovered that tennis is the ultimate expression of all my values simultaneously at once. When I’m playing the game, I’m complete and beyond fulfilled. My soul is nourished and every part of me is engaged. Call it flow state, call it mediation, call it nirvana, call it whatever you want to call it…it just feels awesome. I love every minute of it and that is all that matters.

I’ve always felt this way since the first day I picked up a racket when I was 5 years old, but I didn’t know why. To be honest, over the years the thought of losing tennis terrified me because of this lack of understanding. I often thought what would I do without tennis in my life? What if I got into a car accident tomorrow and was paralyzed and could never move again? What would I do if I could never play again? How would I replace that feeling?

Through this year of magical learning adventure, I’m no longer afraid because I now know exactly why I love tennis so much and it turns out it has nothing to do with tennis at all and never has. I’ve discovered that the real reason I love tennis has always been, and will always be, my values coming to life while I play the game.

Through a lot of self-exploration and following Emilia’s little lion tracks, I’ve been able to distill the essence of why the activity of playing tennis provides these emotions and feelings. When I’m playing, I love the challenge. I’m humbled by losing constantly. I have play the game with integrity. I must endure and suffer. I must learn on the fly. I have to keep my mind and body in balance. I get to have a blast playing out in the sunshine and escaping this world for a few hours.

These are my values and tennis brings them naturally to life, and that is why playing that finite game has always brought me so much joy. I’m so thankful that Emilia showed me how to unlock this underlying code to happiness because understanding this opened up a world of endless possibility.

Values are a way to distill down those positive emotions that result from actions you perform in this world that seemingly nourish your soul and provide you with a way to label it to communicate that feeling to yourself and the rest of the world.

Knowing this gets you thinking, if tennis can bring this out of me naturally…what other activities can I find that do the same thing and do more of that? Then you start to think, what are those stupid activities that I must do already but hate? How can I bring more of my values out in those and make them suck less?

All of this naturally leads you to the thought, why don’t I just strive to bring my values out in everything I do?

And that is the game of finite and simultaneously infinite game of values in a nutshell!

You can take away my tennis or any other finite games that bring out my values today, but you can’t take my values themselves. That is the infinite portion of this game. I’m 1000% confident that I will find a replacement and never miss a beat.

The game of values is the most fulfilling game I’ve ever played and the only one I plan to play the rest of my days.

Note – there is one important rule in the game of values you must always remember. If you bring forth what is inside of you, what you bring forth with save you. If you do not bring forth what is inside of you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.

Question: What game are you playing?

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Links:

What is The Year of Magical Learning? An Introduction

YOML Podcast Discussion - Coming Soon

YOML Bookstore - Finite and Infinite Games by James Carse