All of us have played games at one point or another: soccer, tennis, football, basketball, monopoly, blackjack, foot races, checkers, volley ball, it seems like the varieties are endless. Each game we play is defined by a set of rules. The rules and boundaries are set at the start, all the players understand and accept the rules and boundaries. In truth, it would not make sense or be much fun to play a game without such rules and boundaries and it often invokes anger, frustration or disappointment when an “idiot” decides to ignore the rules and boundaries or attempts to change them during play.
Not all rules and boundaries in life are made up by us. Nature imposes rules and boundaries that must be there to allow life to exist. Each of the trillions of cells and bacteria in our body are governed by such rules and boundaries. The game of life played out in every one of us is defined by these rules and boundaries. Each cell has a membrane boundary that separates the inside of the cell from outside and it has rules (such as those imposed by the receptors on the boundaries) that determine which of the molecular players are allowed to go across the boundary into or out of the cells. The DNA and messenger molecules determine which molecular players are manufactured inside the cell. All these molecules play by the rules of physics that governs them. The sum total of all of these rules and boundaries make us what we physically are.
Supernal wisdom is evident in the rules and boundaries that make us who we are. How much more fun we can have if we learn to play our best within the rules and boundaries that nature has provided. We cannot change nature’s rules and boundaries anyway. If we pretend we can, it tends to work against us. We can learn many of these rules by just playing. My mother taught me that if I ate 10 candy bars all at once I would get “sick”. She was right, I learned from experience. I suppose I did not believe at that time that she could really have known. Later on, when I had learned the rules of cellular biology, I learned that eating so much digestible sugar violates the rules and boundaries for health set by the nature of my cells. On a much sadder note, I have lost good friends who at one time tried to convince me that psychosomatic drugs were harmless and later found that some of my friends were dependent and literally were not able to live without them. A few of them did not to stay in the game of life. Others lost much of the vitality of life when they attempted to redefine the rules nature to conform to their own beliefs and pleasures.
As I study and understand the rules and boundaries of life, all this makes a lot more sense to me. There are many things we can influence, especially in ourselves and our society as we strive to understand the rules that govern life and play well within them. The more we understand these, the better we can play and enjoy the game. I have also noted that those that learn how to play the game of life well can inspire others to live up to their full potential. We are not alone in this life, we all have almost infinite capacity within our natural bounds. Let us learn how to play life within the rules and bounds that are set by nature. Why not give our bodies the nutritious food, exercise, rest and a reason to work for the greater good that it requires. We may not understand the rules and boundaries very well at first, but we certainly find out quite a bit along the way. May we be wise and aware as we continue together on this incredible journey of discovery.