Spirituality Is Basically Just The Gamification of Life
| Enlightened Entrepreneurship Level – 1 of 16: NPC (Non Player Character) |
| Steps – 1.1.1: Game >> 1.1.2: Gamer >> 1.1.3: The Game of Life >> 1.1.4: Spiritual Gameplay |
| School Subjects: Game Design, Sports, Esports, Psychology, Philosophy, Cosmology |
| Reading List: Leela, Men Ab, Metu Neter vol. 2, A Theory of Human Motivation |
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| Corresponding Build Button: 🔘: 🔢 KPI Button – Manifestation, Life Formula |
| Corresponding Inventory Item: 4 Backups |
| Prize: Spiritual frameworks and religions are actually role playing games and school curriculums designed to develop your Godhood. |
EE 1.1.4: Spiritual Gameplay – Life as the Ultimate RPG
EE 1.1.4: Spiritual Gameplay is the capstone of Level 1: NPC, integrating the concepts of escaping autopilot, embracing life as a game, and choosing to play as a Gamer. This module reveals how spiritual frameworks and religions are, at their core, sophisticated role-playing games and elaborate school curriculums designed not just for moral guidance or salvation, but to develop your Godhood – your ultimate potential and connection to the divine or universal consciousness.
Spiritual Frameworks: Curriculums for Godhood
Many ancient spiritual traditions, philosophies, and religions can be understood as meticulously designed “games” or “curriculums” for personal and spiritual development, guiding individuals towards a state of higher consciousness, wisdom, and ultimately, self-realization or “Godhood.”
Examples:
- Yoga and Meditation Traditions: These are structured systems with practices (asanas, pranayama, dhyana), ethical guidelines (yamas, niyamas), and progressive stages (chakras, samadhis) designed to purify the mind, connect with inner awareness, and achieve spiritual liberation. Each posture mastered, each meditation deepened, is a “quest completed” that grants “experience points” towards inner peace and expanded consciousness.
- Buddhist Eightfold Path: This is a clear “game plan” with eight interconnected “rules” or “steps” (Right Understanding, Right Thought, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, Right Concentration) leading to the ultimate “win condition” of Nirvana – the cessation of suffering and full enlightenment.
- Kabbalah (Jewish Mysticism): This is a complex system of spiritual interpretation and practice aimed at understanding the nature of God, the universe, and humanity’s role. It involves mapping the Tree of Life, meditating on divine names, and performing rituals, acting as a layered game board to ascend through spiritual dimensions.
- Alchemy: Often seen as a spiritual process, alchemy was not merely about transmuting lead into gold, but about transmuting the self from a base state to a perfected, “golden” state of being. Its stages of purification, separation, and conjunction can be viewed as “levels” in a deeply symbolic personal transformation game.
- Ancient Mystery Schools (e.g., Eleusinian, Pythagorean): These secret societies involved initiatory rites and teachings designed to impart profound spiritual knowledge and transformative experiences. They were structured journeys through symbolic landscapes, akin to an ancient, real-life RPG with hidden quests and ultimate revelations.
These systems, while seemingly disparate, share a common thread: they offer a defined path, practices, and a clear goal of elevated being, making them compelling prototypes for gamifying life’s ultimate purpose.
How to Play the Game of Life from a Spiritual Perspective: Reaching the Absolute Max Level
Playing the game of life from a spiritual perspective means consciously engaging with existence as a profound journey of self-discovery and transformation, with the ultimate goal of realizing your full potential and connection to the universal.
Pick a Framework: Leela as a Prime Example
One of the most powerful and direct frameworks for gamifying life from a spiritual perspective is Leela, the ancient Indian “Game of Self-Knowledge.” This is not just a board game, but a profound philosophical system encapsulated in play.
Extracted Preface of the Book that is included with the game:
“There is really only one game, the game in which each of us is a player acting out his role. The game is Leela, the universal play of cosmic energy. Leela is divine play. It is present in the nature of the Supreme Self. It is this playful nature which creates the world of names and forms – the phenomenal world. Leela is life itself, energy expressed as the myriad forms and feelings presented continuously to the self.
When You Roll, You Choose Your Role
The essence of the player is his ability to become, to adopt a role. That which is the essence of the player can enter into any role. But once the player enters into the game, once he assumes the identity of the persona he adopts, he loses sight of his true nature, and gets caught by maya (illusion). He forgets the essence of what it is to play the game. His moves are decided by the karma die. The purpose of this small game is to help the player gain this ability to withdraw from his identifications and see how he might become a better player. For this game is a microcosm of the larger game.
Contained within the seventy-two spaces of the game-board is the essence of thousands of years of self-exploration, the heart of Indian tradition. As the player moves from space to space, square to square, he begins to see patterns in his own existence, emerging with ever-deepening clarity as his understanding of the game broadens. His sense of detachment grows as he sees each stage as temporary, some thing to move beyond. And once the temporality of any space becomes a reality for the player, he can detach from that space, let it go as he seeks to discover ever more about the wonder that is Being.
As with all games, here too there is a goal, an object to be attained. Because the essence of the player is his ability to identify, his only chance of ‘winning’ the game is to identify with that which is his Source. This is Cosmic Consciousness, the essence of pure Being, which transcends time and space and knows no limits, is infinite, absolute, eternal, changeless, the All, without attributes, beyond both name and form. The game ends when the player becomes himself, the essence of play. This is Leela.
It Is A Mystery
Neither the author nor the date of origin of the game we now call Leela is known. As a general rule in the Indian literary tradition, the name of the author is considered unimportant. He is but the pen in the hands of God, a tool of expression; and so the name has not been recorded. The influences apparent in the formulation of the game point to an age of at least 2,000 years. The creators of the game saw it foremost as a tool for understanding the relationship of the individual self to the Absolute Self.
Leela is the practice of playing the game of life consciously as well as the basic nature of the divine. The divine Leela can also be actually played as a great game. Leela is the nature of Supreme Consciousness, playful nature. The phenomenal world is manifested Leela. The play is beginningless – as well as endless.
Leela is the great adventure and the great discovery. Again, and again, and again, and again – without any loss and without any gain – this endless game is played. Those who realize the “play” in the game are not caught by the game-board, and know it as the Leela (Divine game) of Leela-Dhar (Cosmic Consciousness).
Those who identify with the squares and planes of the game-board are played by the game-board; and the game-board becomes maya (illusion), the great veiling power that binds the mind. It is maya which creates the phenomenal world. It is Leela that makes it a great adventure. Tamas brings the player to maya – and boundless love and spiritual devotion to Cosmic Consciousness. Spiritual devotion (bhakti loka) is the great discovery of Leela, created by maya of Supreme Consciousness in order to enjoy Himself – to play hide and seek with Himself.
There is no purpose and no responsibility in Leela. In the words of Maharishi Raman: “The ideas of purpose and responsibility are purely social in nature and are created by mind to exhort Ego. God is above all such ideas. If God is immanent in all and there is no one except him, who is responsible for whom? Creation is expression of inherent laws in the source of creation.” This inherent law is the playful nature of the Divine, which is Leela.
Maya, The Game’s Illusion
Maya is the illusion of existence in duality. When one accepts entry into the game as a player, awareness of unity is lost in the obsession (fascination) of play. This taking-over of consciousness is the fun of play. The one becomes many, to play a game of cosmic hide-and seek with itself. The one is reality. Multiplicity is illusion. This illusion of multiplicity is created by the veiling power of the one (the Supreme Consciousness). This veiling power is called Maya Shakti, or maya. This veiling power creates the illusion of me and mine, or thee and thine, which creates ignorance in the individual consciousness.
Those who realize this ignorance call it avidya (a = no; vidya = knowledge: thus ignorance or absence of knowledge). So maya is also called avidya by yogis. This ignorance comes to individual consciousness through the mind: that is why yoga is the practical device to stop the modifications of mind, and yoga’s aim is to arrest mind, to stop the inner dialogue, to go beyond the mind, to realize one’s true nature, beyond the illusion of me and mine. The world of names and forms is maya. This illusion can be seen at every level.
The human body itself is not a unit of existence, but is composed of countless numbers of cells and micelles. If each cell starts growing a sense of me and mine, each human body will become a subcontinent. It is the individual ego (ahamkara) which creates separate units of existence – but this is itself is maya (illusion).
Ego cannot function without mind, as mind cannot without sense-organs. So it is only after the mind is brought to a suppressed state that the sense of me and mine can be completely annihilated. By yoga alone can this state be achieved, and an end brought to this illusory sense of being an independent unit. After realization of truth through a direct experience of reality in samadhi, Maya Shakti can be understood – and the human psycho-drama can be observed as divine play, as Leela.
Maya Shakti is the power which brings forth the evolution of the phenomenal world. It makes this possible by an interplay of the three gunas – sattva, rajas and tamas. Cosmic Consciousness becomes individual consciousness by its own maya. This diversity in unity is illusion, and is caused by the veiling power of the Supreme Consciousness.
All that the player perceives of the phenomenal world exists within himself. Two comes into being when 1 repeats itself. Two is maya, because both were present in the One. The two are the internal and the external world; the unmanifested and the manifested, Shiva and Shakti, male and female, Sun and Moon, gross and subtle, Absolute and maya, Noumenon and Phenomenon. Two is therefore the number of maya or illusion, the universal play of cosmic energy.
A Game of Knowledge
Leela, the Game of Knowledge is nothing less than the game of life and karma. Four things are necessary for one or more to play Leela: the Leela book and game board, a die (of karma) and a significant object that belongs to the player, such as a ring, to serve as the player’s symbol during the game.
Each of the seventy-two squares on the board of Leela represents a virtue or vice, an aspect of human consciousness or a plane of being. The players’ progress is dictated by the fall of a die corresponding to the forces of karma. The seven planes through which the player must pass before he reaches the eighth plane – the plane beyond all planes – are the seven chakras.
Leela is not merely an entertainment but a serious method of understanding the phenomenal world of Maya (Illusion), and the spiritual nature of our individual self that leads us to the journey towards liberation. The saints who invented this game used the game-board to recognize the present state of their own being. By playing the game time and again they consciously observed which snake brought them down and which arrows took them up.
Observing their own inner self, they could tell whether they had understood what it is to be not involved. The uniqueness of Leela – the game of self-knowledge – is that it is a study of scriptures and discovery of the self at the same time.”
Life is Not Just a Boardgame: Key Differences
While board games offer useful metaphors, it’s crucial to distinguish the “Game of Life” from a simple board game. This distinction highlights the unique depth and complexity of our actual existence:
- Games Have Win Conditions, Life’s Win Condition is Continuous Growth: Most board games have a defined endpoint and winner. Life, however, has a “win condition” that isn’t a final destination but an ongoing process of Continuous Growth. It’s about perpetually improving your reaction to the minigames of living and deepening your appreciation of the freedom to manifest your vision.
- Intrinsic Reward vs. External Goals: While games offer intrinsic fun, they often have external rewards. Life’s ultimate rewards are internal – the joy of living more of the good life and becoming your best self.
- Detachment from the Character vs. Identification with Your Body and Thoughts: In board games, you manipulate a piece; you are detached from it. In life, we are often deeply identified with our physical body, our thoughts, and our emotions. The spiritual gameplay of Leela, however, teaches conscious detachment from identification, allowing us to see our “persona” as a role rather than our true self.
- Remote Control vs. Innate Agency: Board games are controlled by external players. In the game of life, we possess innate agency and willpower, giving us genuine control over our “character’s” actions within the game’s rules.
- Respawn vs. Uniqueness of Experience: Board games often allow for respawns or resets. Life, as we know it, has no simple “respawn” button. Each moment is unique, emphasizing the value of conscious choice and learning from every experience. This makes every “move” in life profoundly significant.
- Infinite Leveling: Unlike games with level caps, the game of life offers infinite leveling. There’s always more to learn, more to experience, more to grow into, pushing towards higher states of being and understanding.
Framing Life as a Game: The Transformative Power
Consciously framing life as a game, especially from a spiritual perspective, fundamentally shifts your relationship with existence:
- Chores become Quests: Mundane tasks are recontextualized as purposeful objectives that contribute to your overall progress, making them more engaging.
- Stress becomes Thrill: Challenges that once induced anxiety are reinterpreted as exciting obstacles in a grand adventure, activating a sense of thrill and determination.
- No Game Rules becomes Clear Rules and Principles: Life can feel chaotic without a framework. Framing it as a game prompts you to define your own principles and ethics, providing clear “rules” for your gameplay.
- Habit becomes Gamer Autonomy: By identifying “NPC habits,” you gain the autonomy to choose intentional actions, becoming the conscious “Gamer” rather than being driven by unconscious programming.
- Unquantified becomes Quantified Self: You’re encouraged to track your progress, reflect on your “experience points,” and observe your development, leading to a more aware and “Quantified Self.”
- Birth and Death become Continuous Playthrough: From a spiritual perspective, life and death are not ends but phases in a continuous, infinite game of consciousness. Birth is starting a new character, and death is transitioning to another plane or phase of play.
The Win Condition of Life and the Blueprint of Spirituality
In the context of Enlightened Entrepreneurship, the Win Condition of Life is Continuous Growth through living more of the good life and becoming your best self. This is achieved by continually improving your reaction to the everyday “minigames” of living and deepening your appreciation for the freedom to manifest your vision.
The ultimate blueprint showing the game design of life and guiding you in this continuous play of this infinite game is Spirituality. It provides the ancient wisdom, the practical tools, and the philosophical context to understand the grand design, recognize your true nature as the player, and ultimately reach the “absolute max level” of Godhood – a state of ultimate realization, interconnectedness, and conscious manifestation. It’s about playing the game of life not just for survival or material gain, but for the profound joy of self-discovery and conscious participation in the divine play.
Sources
Maya or Illusion in Hinduism Philosophy
Leela, The Game of Self Knowledge Video Series by Peter Marchand
Men Ab: Kamitic Behavioral Transcendence Meditation by Ra Un Nefer Amen
