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the Tao of Super Mario

MyDoorsAreOpen

MyDoorsAreOpen

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I once had a profound revelation when I played Super Mario Bros. rolling: What if our lives were just like that of Mario and Luigi -- when you die, you go right back to the beginning of the board and live the life again, and on and on and on, until one day you do it right and you get to the end of the board and never have to do it again? This is kind of what Hindus and Buddhists and probably countless others believe. Rebirth means you live the same life again. And you continue to do so each time you die, until one day you pass away without any accumulated karma at all, and have no need to be reborn again. "Nirvana" means literally "extinguished" in Sanskrit. I find it really funny that western people are scared of vanishing from existence forever and invent religions against this fear, while for easterners, to vanish from existence is your ultimate goal!

So the lesson I pulled from it all, is to live your life just as you would want to relive it endless times. I've also developed a special place in my heart for Super Mario Bros. since this incident, and have collected a lot of their memorabelia.

Comments?
 
Is rebirth different from reencarnation then? What reasons or explanations for this phenomenon are given, or is it a tipical "doubting Gods word is to go to hell" type of religion?
 
^^^ From what I've been told, these two religions came directly from the mouths of mystics, seers, people who've traveled to the edges of human consciousness. Hinduism was founded by a guild of mystics / gnostics / paranormalists, who definitely meditated and quite likely used entheogens, and talked and wrote about what they discovered about the fabric of the universe. Siddharta Gautama, the Buddha, was a mystic philosopher too.

My girlfriend sought once to join a small, secretive circle of Jewish mystics. They refused her, she thinks because she's a woman. But still, the little she's learned about what Jewish mystics discover on their journey sounds remarkably similar to what Hindus and Buddhists have to say.

A lot of physicists find these eastern beliefs jive a lot more with what they're discovering about the makeup of the universe than the abrahamic religions. I've had a physicist try to explain it to me once, it has to do with the law of probabiliies and in a multiverse that's constantly either spawning new universes or wadding itself up and reexpanding, everything will be recreated, along with every possible minor variation, infinite times over. There's more to it than that and perhaps I've got it wrong -- I'm not good with math and physics.

Hinduism and Buddhism don't really have the notion of God that the abrahamic faiths do. They are certainly open to the idea of entities and (to varying degrees) sentient forces in the cosmos that we westerners would probably call spirits. But no big kahuna in the sky who looks just like Zeus.
 
Hey this is really weird, but I sometimes have these moments where everything seems to click in a video game type sense, with points, lives, starting over, etc. It only lasts for a fleeting moment, and I can't even successfully apply a complete rationale to it, but the only phrase that keeps coming back is, "it's all a game." If I'm having a good week, these little reality trips happen at least once. But they don't last, and I still don't understand them.

Good thread... I've thought about starting one like this before, but I have a hard time understanding this epiphany... It feels good when I feel it though - it's like everything clicks in an almost schizophrenic way.
 
+1 more reason why super mario is the most genious line of video games ever.

i really do understand what youre saying MDAO. Nice comparison. It would be nice if thats how our lives work. Unfortunatley, its hard to figure out if its true or not.
 
"
Hinduism and Buddhism don't really have the notion of God that the abrahamic faiths do. They are certainly open to the idea of entities and (to varying degrees) sentient forces in the cosmos that we westerners would probably call spirits. But no big kahuna in the sky who looks just like Zeus."

they both believe in the basic oneness of all life.
 
You only get three shots though, unless you find a way to cheat :O

Anyone recall the cheat in SMB where you would do some certain things and so you could go down through a tube and enter a negative level and you would just swim, swim, swim and keep going in some kind of loop until eventually, time runs out.

Maybe there's a thought like this behind that pointless part of the game. 8(
 
where do the mushrooms and flowers and stars fit in? is it possible to pick up extra guys throughout life? nice comparison tho. i liked it.
 
LOL, ya know, it makes sense to me.

Im also responding cuz I had a dream last night that i was IN a sonic the Hedgehog game , and it was SIIIIICK. :D

Remember sonic the hedgehog, I dont think it was the first one but i forget which game it was, the one that was all green and had all those crazy loop-twists with the moss hanging down and shit, and secret elevators in the trees and shit? I was obsessed with that one when i was 6 or 7 because we didnt have Sega, and i could only play it when I went to this one kids house who had it, and had the game.

Well anyways, it was pretty fuckin sick to be in the game. i guess i was Sonic. but shit, it ended up taking me to this underground thing where aliens lived and we drank....wait for it...blackberry brandy. LMAO.

Know what, I aint even a big video-game player. I can kick ass at some of the oldschool games but as much as i love GTA and the new PS2 games and shit like that, I suck at them, real bad. But i can still see what youre talking about.

I also know excactly what you mean about sometimes "it all just comes into place" and you think "its just a game" ive had that one MANY times before.

Good topic
 
captainballs said:
Hey this is really weird, but I sometimes have these moments where everything seems to click in a video game type sense, with points, lives, starting over, etc. It only lasts for a fleeting moment, and I can't even successfully apply a complete rationale to it, but the only phrase that keeps coming back is, "it's all a game." If I'm having a good week, these little reality trips happen at least once. But they don't last, and I still don't understand them.

Good thread... I've thought about starting one like this before, but I have a hard time understanding this epiphany... It feels good when I feel it though - it's like everything clicks in an almost schizophrenic way.
Click to expand...
of course you can apply the game model to life! nothing crazy about that
 
Murdoch said:
You only get three shots though, unless you find a way to cheat :O

Anyone recall the cheat in SMB where you would do some certain things and so you could go down through a tube and enter a negative level and you would just swim, swim, swim and keep going in some kind of loop until eventually, time runs out.

Maybe there's a thought like this behind that pointless part of the game. 8(
Click to expand...

What it's really trying to say is that you won't get very far in life by jumping backwards through solid brick walls.
 
yeh, rolling while playing super mario is really fun.

I like the analogy you used with mario, really reaches to the gamer generations.
 
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