Voices from the Void

The Mind Game Series

Game One – Demolition Derby

The mind is a rascal! This cliché is probably as old as the alphabet. However, whether you agree or not is not important. The fact remains that the mind is the most amazing gaming play-station ever conceived. The games your mind can play with you are infinitely more creative, complex, and destructive than anything an electronic video game box can ever produce.

Let’s start with the game called Demolition Derby. This complex game is played between two aspects of yourself: the heart versus the mind.

In this game your mind (which is pre-programmed after numerous incarnations) has the singular object of moving in the direction opposite to your heart. Your effort lies in keeping yourself together and resist being torn apart. If the mind reduces you emotionally to tatters and leaves you miserable, you have lost. Game over.

This is how the game is played. Your mind exploits your two obvious vulnerabilities. You see, to desire is the prime occupation of the heart. It loves to venture into the fantasyland of unending wants, possessions, wealth and material prosperity. The heart is prone to greedily desire the neverland of ideal relationships, passionate romantic love and peaceful existence. Playing on your propensity to desire, your mind excites the heart with visions of a perfect world that pump up your expectations in every respect. This ultimately leads to incredible levels of stress and frustration either because of your performance or the lack of it or the unrealistic targets you have set for yourself.

The other vulnerability of the heart that the mind exploits is the gratification you get from self-pity and playing victim. The mind repeatedly re-runs the worst of your past, especially the hurt and pain. Initially the victimhood is addictive but very soon this pleasant numbness turns into depression and misery.

Now the game plan becomes clearer. On one hand you are pushed into the future with fanciful desires and outrageous expectations, only to find yourself destroyed with stress and self-doubt. On the other hand, you are dragged back into the past only to reopen old wounds. If you are perpetually angry, have low self-esteem and loads of physical problems, know that you have been beaten by the mind. The alternative is to take the challenge and play to win.

This means you learn to use the joy stick (pun intended). You will beat the mind if you know where your joy lies. The winning strategy is to douse the fire of desire with the cold water of wisdom. Know that regardless of anything you might do, you will get into your life only as much as is allowed in your destiny. So simply make your best effort and let the abundance flow towards you, secure in the knowledge that you have given a hundred percent and the Universe will do the rest. Don’t go and hype yourself up with unrealistic expectations and unbridled greed only to slump into disappointment and anger. Be practical, and yes, also be ambitious, but ensure your feet are firmly planted on the ground.

When plagued with past memories, challenge the mind. Does the old problem still exist or has it left your life? If it exists, why have you not put your resources and energy to solve it? Remember, when you do not solve your problems it means you want them to be there. It’s your choice. Either solve your problem or enjoy it. A problem-solving attitude has two benefits. One, it solves the issue that is troubling you, and two, your mind can focus on the present. This prevents it from slipping into the past and messing you up.

Realise that this game is yours to win. You’ve just got to learn how. Game on.

The Mind Game Series

Game Two – Straddling Two Stools

This is another favourite mind game. Once again you are playing against your mind. In this game, the mind overtly encourages you to stand on two stools so that the resulting imbalance will topple you and you crash in a heap of embarrassment and despair.

One stool is called Kindness & Humility and the other is called Aggression & Arrogance. These four qualities exist in every human being unless one has achieved perfection. However, the important thing is the proportion in which they exist in each human being.

Your inherent nature wants you to stand on the secure stool of Kindness & Humility. But all too often, the mind tempts and nudges you to put a foot on the other stool of Aggression & Arrogance. This other stool is a very wobbly one and as you shift more of your weight on it, there is every chance of losing your mental balance. This ultimately results in some kind of major loss. It could be loss of power, position, prestige, money, fame, people, relationships or a combination of these.

How do you win this game? It’s really simple. Stand firmly with two feet plastered on the stool of Kindness & Humility. It will always serve you well. The mind will play its mischief and try very hard to convince you that your kindness is actually your weakness and your humility is nothing but timidity.

Nothing could be further from the truth. This kind of thinking creates complete confusion in your mind. A kind and humble person is not automatically weak and timid. Only a strong person can be kind but this does not mean you allow people to take advantage of your kindness. There are always polite and gentle ways of expressing your thoughts and views. And you can quietly but very firmly stick to what you think is the right decision. Kindness and weakness have nothing in common and in fact are at the opposite ends of the spectrum.

Similarly, being humble is not a sign of timidity. In fact, such a person is not scared of anything. I would go a step further and say that humble people very often have done a lot in their lives they can be proud about. And taking pride in your achievements is not arrogance.

The winning strategy here is to remove any confusion the mind creates about yourself. Because that will then affect your interactions with other human beings, especially in relationships. A kind and humble persona is the surest sign of inner strength, fearlessness, evolution and greatness. An aggressive and arrogant disposition only exposes pettiness, huge insecurity, low self-esteem and a disappointing level of spiritual development. So, stand firmly on the stool of Kindness & Humility and kick the other one down.

You know you have permanently won this game when you have the sweetest smile hiding teeth made of iron.

The Mind Game Series Game

Three – Delusion Grande

Delusion Grande is a very subtle game played by the mind. Often it can go unnoticed till it causes a big problem or major embarrassment. Here the mind deludes a person to believe I am indispensable. For some, this delusion can be a temporary phase but there are multitudes of people who go through their entire lives, sleepwalking through this delusion. However, the humour in this condition lies in the fact that when the Universe has tolerated enough of your grand delusion it simply swats you out of it in the blink of an eye. Only then, much to his or her own shock, the person realises, that one is about as indispensable as a mosquito.

I grant that it is a generously human trait to imagine your own indispensability. For example, every mother is convinced she is indispensable to her children; every man of the house likes to think the family cannot run without him; each and every CEO-MD-Chairman of large and small corporations live this delusion, regardless of whether they run their companies successfully or to the ground; all business owners are certain their businesses would collapse in the hands of any other individual; and every single professional is seriously worried the world will screech to a grinding halt if they did not reach their work place that morning.

Then you have the movers and shakers who take Delusion Grande to the next level. They are the politicians, rulers, film stars, celebrities, socialites, religious leaders and spiritual teachers. They always imagine a planetary meltdown if they had to suddenly die.

So how does this delusion come about? It’s a mind game played with the Ego. Of course. That is obvious. In fact, the mind teases the Ego about its own self-importance just like an owner would tease a bull terrier with a juicy, T-bone steak. The degree of delusion simply depends on the level of arrogance and the extent of self-opinion. This whole problem originates from the fact that there is an abysmally limited understanding of the Universe and how the universal plan works. There is little interest or inclination to really find out how this planet operates with its billions of living organisms in mind-boggling synchronicity. And in all of this, guess how important one individual is in the entire scheme of the seen Universe. Well, as I have mentioned somewhere earlier, one living individual is about as big and important as a microbe in a football field. Would it make any difference to anyone, anywhere if one microbe ceases to exist in a football field?

But coming to a practical, micro-level of existence, the individual destiny of every individual is meticulously planned with numerous possibilities and potentials. This means that life will go on uninterrupted, regardless of who enters and who exists the drama being played out on the collective stage, called planet Earth. That’s how well it’s designed, believe me.

The Mind Game Series Game

Four – Casting the First Stone

The title of this game comes from a parable in the Bible, where a woman is condemned to death by stoning for committing adultery. Jesus says that whoever in the crowd has never sinned before, should cast the first stone. No one in the crowd is able to cast the first stone. The moral of the story was to be non-judgemental. In this game, the mind