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any of us think that way. Or we hear it from someone and repeat the quote without fully realizing what it means. Everyone experiences life differently, and everyone arrives at different conclusions about it. Those conclusions are never final, but experiencing life ourselves is what gives us real understanding.
The "Unlock the Next Level" Trap
Life as a game means the next part opens only once we've cleared the one before it. It also means we can get addicted to it, because of our own compulsions, much like gaming, where we play to pass the time, to earn, or to satisfy some desire. Where that leads, more often than not, is depression and a sense of not belonging. That's just one of the factors.
Life becomes addictive in its own ways too. We get attached to so many things that they turn into compulsions, and those compulsions become hard to break. It is a cage, literally.
How to Know if You're Caged
You can measure how caged you are by noticing how much envy or jealousy, one of the factors, comes up in you around someone else's success, happiness, freedom, or lifestyle. Saying "it's easy for you, you're free, doing this and that, while we have a 9-to-5 job" is, underneath it, unconscious envy. They chose their path. You can too. Everything has a cost. Maybe they simply paid more of it than you have.
"Dominantly, it is you who is stopping you."
There can be other situations, non-explainable or external, that genuinely play a part too. That's a different story. But you can choose you.
So, Is Life a Game?
No. It is something open. We do not have to unlock the previous level to unlock the next. It is all already there, as we take the path that contributes to our own inner freedom.
Two Things This Points To
- What feels like leveling up is often just another compulsion in disguise. The addiction to unlocking the next thing can lead straight to the depression and not-belonging it was supposed to escape.
- Envy is a measurement tool. Noticing what freedom in someone else stirs up in you shows you exactly where you're still caged, and where the choosing has to start with you.
This is the inquiry at the heart of the Raise Perception initiative, and of Augmented Perception, where we're exploring how a Brain-VR interface might help people step out of these compulsive loops and into consciously chosen experience. To go deeper into why this matters, read our free e-book, Unfathomable The Silent Knowing.