The Game of Life

I watched the movie, 'Red Riding Hood' last night which was a wonderful piece of fantasy. I love fantasy because it gives ourselves the chance to expand reality to way larger than life and almost analyse it through a magnifying glass.

The movie tells the story of a village which is being rampaged by a werewolf and wherein the villagers go about hunting the wolf and killing other innocent real wolves in the process. Many of the villagers are killed, but when one of them survives the bite of the werewolf, they are tragically sacrificed by their own, for fear of the attacked inheriting the traits of the werewolf and becoming evil like him, thereby perpetuating the cycle. The werewolf turns out to be the heroine's father and in the last few minutes of the movie, Red Riding Hood slays her dad only to discover that he has bitten her lover. She is faced with the choice of whether to kill her lover and lose her love or let him be. The movie ends with Red Riding Hood letting him go free and her moving to the outskirts of the village where she lives a semi reclusive life.

For me, the resounding feeling at the end of the movie was one of awakening to the fact that humankind is so preoccupied with eliminating evil from their midst, that so much quality, innocence, peace and love is lost in the process. Evil is thought of as a contaminant that must be weeded out and destroyed for ever. So much energy is given to the illusion of a world free of crime and evil, that the total reality is we land up living in a realm of fear, judgement, revenge seeking and justice.

We live in a world of crime prevention, corporal punishment, laws and legalities.

I question myself; "What war was ever resolved by fighting war with more war?" "How could we ever perceive of a perfect society which contains not even a trace of evil?"

Evil will remain because it creates so much opportunity for personal growth. Each of us needs the opportunity to choose the paths of selfish desire, self fulfilment, etc to discover the consequences of our choices.

To expect a perfect world, free of evil, would be to expect a child to follow the advice of their parents and never touch the hot plate, only eat healthy food, wear sensible clothes, never try cigarettes or alcohol. I think you get my point.

I was wondering if we gave as much energy to LOVE as we do to the resistance to evil, what would be the effect on our planet?

I kind of see life as a great game of rugby. You can play an attacking game or a defending game. Which game do you choose to play? I certainly prefer to watch a game where the ball flows and moves with lots of passing between the players and positive energy. Those games in which the defending side buffer one tackle after the next and the whistle is blown repetitively for penalties, are frustrating and painstaking.

The attacking game is like sowing love and trust and courage. The defending game is like the walk of fear, judgement and second guessing everyone else's moves. When your team go out there with momentum and courageously duck and dive between the walls of defence, with the intent of getting to the try line, the crowd is jubilant. Love is in the air.

Somehow, when we witness our team playing on the back foot, and just going for tackle after tackle, the game has a negative connotation to it. No tries are ever converted in a game of defence only. You have got to have the intent and the accompanying energy and commitment to get up there and put it over the line.

So I conclude that in the 'Game of Life', more good would come of earth if we were to focus on LOVE. If we just stopped giving so much time and energy to resisting evil (which is negative) and focused our attention on loving (which is positive), war would eventually run its course and lose its meaning. After all war can't perpetuate itself unless it has resistance. And with resistance and the butting of heads we're never going anywhere as the human race.

So, I say: "Make love not war!"

Have a great week
and remember loving starts with SELF

lots of love and oodles more
Nicolette