tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post4186619451498332346..comments2024-03-29T01:07:30.224-07:00Comments on Had Enough Therapy?: Are You a Fictional Character?Stuart Schneidermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12784043736879991769noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-81903340972263087632015-09-14T20:16:41.690-07:002015-09-14T20:16:41.690-07:00Stuart: The difference between a game and a story ...Stuart: The difference between a game and a story is that a story has a predetermined outcome. A game has an indeterminate outcome. You do not know how a game ends until it ends. A fully written story has an ending. If you are living it you can play your role well or not well, but you cannot change the outcome. <br /><br />In support for "Gamesmanship" I think of a quote by C.S. Lewis:<br />"It is one of the difficult and delightful subtleties of life that we must deeply acknowledge certain things to be serious and yet retain the power and will to treat them often as rightly as a game."<br /><br />In that case I think his meaning was to avoid perfectionism, the idealistic narrative that says you can learn without making mistakes, without risking something important to you, and one key value of games is that there is a set of rules to work from, so as long as everyone knows there is a game being played, and that there are rules, then you're free to test the limits of that game and see what happens, or what can happen. So anyway, part of playing games must be identifying the stakes, and accepting you're responsible for your own failures.<br /><br />Of course in that competitive world also imagines not only are there are rules, but often they are created biased someone else's favor, and not way to play. So once you "discover" that, then you're more tempted to be bolder with your own rationalizations like "All's fair in love and war" and explain why you can do things you don't approve of, but are necessary to advance your personal agendas, since everyone else is doing it too. So part of games means testing what happens when you break your perceived rules.<br /><br />But in defense of Freud, or Jung, I'd say mainly what they were talking about wasn't constructing narratives, but deconstructing them, that is recognizing unconscious patterns that define habitual action, and identify a position above those reactions, and see points where a given narrative can be willingly followed or rejected, based on that higher perspective. <br /><br />And Jung might call these narratives "archetypes", so when you're "caught" by an archetype, it rather demands a certain point of view, whether martyr or bully or whatever, and it "feels" like YOU when those instinctual voices arise, and when you have to act, they're probably got some good survival skills built in, but if you have time to reflect, then its possible to "take in" that voice, WITHOUT acting on it, and then holding the tension of INACTION, the fantasy action can be placed in discernment against other facts, or counter archetypal positions that exist in tension with each other.<br /><br />Or most simply, as a bumper sticker I saw a few years ago "Don't believe everything you think." Wisedom might say its dangerous to question your own biases, but more dangerous to ignore them.Ares Olympushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09726811306826601686noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-84530926363918672572015-09-14T05:05:15.434-07:002015-09-14T05:05:15.434-07:00Thanks for linking some of my pieces. I hope that ...Thanks for linking some of my pieces. I hope that everyone else will check out your blog.Stuart Schneidermanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12784043736879991769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-917219184869186322015-09-13T15:55:31.577-07:002015-09-13T15:55:31.577-07:00OT---I have a link roundup at Chicago Boyz that ma...OT---I have a link roundup at Chicago Boyz that may be of interest...Worthwhile Reading & Viewing, Special Love and Sex Edition<br /><br />http://chicagoboyz.net/archives/49695.html<br />David Fosterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15464681514800720063noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-82073924608360480752015-09-13T09:34:52.466-07:002015-09-13T09:34:52.466-07:00Even if life is a game with unpredictable outcomes...Even if life is a game with unpredictable outcomes it would appear that human beings tell stories as part of the game. Stories appear in religion, mythology, history, law, and descriptions of personal history. Stories that put a spin on facts and events also appear frequently in this blog.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com