Video Games, the Heart, and the Root of all Addictions

[Solace]

When I was 4 years old I received my first video game console with my all time favorite game included. I stopped counting how many times I had completed the game because I did it multiple times a season. This was none other than "Kingdom Hearts".

The story was of a young 14 year old boy named Sora who one day was caught in a storm on his nearby island, losing his two friends Riku and Kairi. He woke up in another world, and sought to find his friends because he loved them dearly. And this is what got me hooked. Especially at the climax where (spoilers) Sora sacrifices himself so that Kairi can regain consciousness by her heart returning to her body. It was beautiful. The Disney worlds in between the main story were fun, but the friendship aspect is what made this game phenomenal. And so began my video game addiction in general...

What I have realized is that, even with the most emotional and enchanting game I have played in my life, the feeling of connection, safety, and love you receive from genuine friends far outweighs this artificial world. It doesn't matter what the game is, in the end it is still pixels flashing on a screen generating a physiological response inside of us to the stimuli. Humans however have something special that I've learnt and experienced: We have layers. A mental, emotional, and physical body. In human to human conversation our emotional bodies can interact, and this isn't possible in the video game world, thus it will always lack that layer of connection. Anything in nature can create genuine feelings in us too, as long as it is living.

So why don't people choose to be with themselves, or people or nature instead of plugging into the video game matrix? Why do I still feel attracted to play through these old games? First the second question! The time when I played Kingdom Hearts and some older video games was when I was a child. As a child I was a ball of energy, my consciousness leaps and bounds higher in vibration. Due to this relationship my adult self wants to connect with the high vibe of my child self, not the video game.

Secondly, video games represent key pillars of our modern society. That is instant gratification (through rewards and achievements), and escape from bad emotions (away from a manipulative family in the real world is prevalent), and the sedentary, lazy lifestyle. Video games therefore contribute to the perpetual loop of staying in the same vibratory state of a largely shattered ego, by providing yet another place to escape from our hearts. Our hearts are calling for our attention, that is all it wants. The heart doesn't want you to pursue a life purpose, or "do" anything, it wants to be listened to. And funnily enough, that is the fastest way to spiritually evolve. So what is most of modern society built around then if we aren't all enlightened? It must mean that it is built around avoiding our heart. Television (Tell lies to your vision), video games, the internet, junk food, the belief that we need to achieve external goals to have self-worth are all meant to direct our attention outwards when turning our attention inwards is rather uncomfortable. Discomfort is the ego falling apart, and being reintegrated into the light in real-time; and as we can see the matrix we are in called society has made this belief ass backwards to, "if I feel uncomfortable then I must have done something wrong in the past to cause this". No my lovelies, you did nothing wrong at all, you are just experiencing a deep deep inner transformation. And if you made friends with discomfort, instead of running to an artificial world or an unnatural one and committed to your heart (the source of all of existence) you would see a greater reality unfold before your very eyes. Life would become peaceful, as your heart becomes content that you are there, not elsewhere. Realize too, that even meditation can disconnect us from our hearts. Well can't video games connect us to our hearts? Never. Only we can connect to our hearts, the video games do not do it for us. No matter the circumstances, what we see right in front of our faces, it never is the source of our inner connection. My darlings, we are the awareness that connects with our heart, and that is the eternal truth. So yes, while playing a video game you could be connected with your heart in brief emotional scenes, that force our attention to it, but 99% of the time, our attention is glued to a screen, not inside of us, for that is how you play a video game. You can't 100% focus on your heart and focus on a video game. You can still play, but not consciously. It's like when we talk without knowing the next word we are going to say, and in that case we can 100% consciously focus on our heart and talk, but not focus on talking and focus on our heart.

We want to become as heart centered as possible. It's so simple. You don't need any routine when you have a heart that knows the best thing for you to do in each and every moment. A compass that points to the true north of your journey, where you become the parent to yourself that you never had. The world we live in darlings is designed to hard wire us to be thought centered beings in our minds, and it has a very external focus. So the effort or resistance we find in having our attention in our hearts  is over coming our own social conditioning, and that which surrounds us. Be warned too, that this new center of attention accelerates the healing of old social conditioning achetypes as we become more conscious of what we have ignored. This is why I ask everyone to take it easy, start slow, and just put your attention there. Just Be in your heart space, and all of life will flow towards love at the rate you feel your heart. (btw, feeling=listening=attention in heart space).

I wrote this today after what happened. Two days ago I impulsively bought a used graphics card to play some video games from this really strange guy. Long story short, the card has died, and I have the option to bring it back and get a refund of $100.00, but I decided not to because all of the money he said was going to widows in the Philippines. It was always meant to be.

God gave me the most amazing contrast of my life by making that card die. I came from feeling heavy in the head, and frustrated; to, when knowing I couldn't play PC games, feeling a great joy in my heart arise. My heart was saying, "Yes!! Thank you God! Now Solace, can you give me your attention? I only ask for a little bit, just so I know that you love me". And I heard it, and responded by giving it what it wanted, and apologizing for almost falling back into video games after a year of sobriety. That is life's eternal choice, the quintessential question. To listen to my heart; or to listen to my ego (subconscious thoughts), or the egos of others? My heart, or my ego? My heart, or my ego?

Infinite love. The journey is the heart, and the heart is the journey.

 

[blazed]

You may have avoided video games today but the same impulse that lead you to buying the graphics card will come up again and again over the years. It's lifelong battle unless you remove yourself from a environment that's prone to video gaming, "out of sight out of mind".

Also the heart is a funny thing, a lot people are actually passionate through addiction.  For example a lot of gamers will say they are "passionate" about gaming and would love to be Pro gamers or twitch streamers making a living off playing video games.

If they sit quietly and meditate they will have the desire to play games which will happen subconscious without them even thinking about gaming, and they might confuse this as a calling or intuition.

So what separates addiction from passion?

A passionate person just looks like an addict from the outside perspective.

And in our Western culture money means everything for example:

A gamer who play 12 hours a day who makes no money = a waste of space, unproductive, useless, leech, parents basement.

A gamer who plays 12 hours and makes millions on twitch = so amazing! He's an idol! So successful! We are proud of him,  etc.

Society is funny, we value and put so much emphasis on money.

Edited April 29, 2018 by blazed

[tsuki]

26 minutes ago, blazed said:

So what separates addiction from passion?

Nothing. Addiction and passion are the same phenomenon from two different perspectives.
Let's call this phenomenon drive.

When you have a drive to become an entrepreneur, you may strive to meet Elon Musk. 

1. Passion is when you want to spend a few hours now and then with him and learn things about making money.
2. Addiction is when you hang around him to feel special and successful. 

These two are equivalent when you see that you want to learn entrepreneurship to feel special and successful.

• Passion is a positive descriptor of drive.
• Addiction is a negative descriptor of drive.

You can substitute LSD for Elon Musk, sage for entrepreneur and reality for making money and you will get the same conclusion.

@Solace As for the OP: life is a game itself. Your real friends are NPCs. You are the one that make them alive and vibrant, just as you brought videogame characters to life. It is your recognition of them and passion/addiction you embody that create the world.
You cannot know a person any better than you can know a videogame character.
Everything you know about them is your interpretation.

Reality is real because you are addicted/passionate about it.
Calling 'real world' reality and 'videogames' illusion is a choice you make to uphold the idea of progress.
Just wait and see how their roles reverse at some point.

4 hours ago, Solace said:

escape from bad emotions (away from a manipulative family in the real world is prevalent)

Spending time with videogames and learning about friendship from them is a form of self-medication that lets you protect your childish innocence from abusive/manipulative family members. You couldn't take it, so you took off. That was wise. Do not hate on your past self.

Edited April 29, 2018 by tsuki

[Colin]

Also, some facts based on science


- Doing empowering or benevolent things as an avatar in a video game can make you feel empowered in the real world.
- Listening to music has benefits for brain health, emotional health, and psychological health.
- Video games seem like a form of emdr to me which is a very effective form of therapy

Like anything in life they can be misused. 

Especially if you have a big goal in mind that requires emotional labor and sacrifice and you really want it, but you opt to play video games as a distraction.
 

[blazed]

7 minutes ago, Colin said:

Also, some facts based on science


- Doing empowering or benevolent things as an avatar in a video game can make you feel empowered in the real world.
- Listening to music has benefits for brain health, emotional health, and psychological health.
- Video games seem like a form of emdr to me which is a very effective form of therapy

Like anything in life they can be misused. 

Especially if you have a big goal in mind that requires emotional labor and sacrifice and you really want it, but you opt to play video games as a distraction.
 

Problem with video games is its extremely addictive, they are based around getting people to play as much as they can because fun = (translates to) addiction.

So its a slippery slope... its very hard to maintain a healthy relationship with games, I think the only ones who can maintain a healthy relationship are people who have other obligations.

But for example if someone got fired from work and live with their parents they can easily end up playing video games 8+ hours a day.

Edited April 29, 2018 by blazed

[Solace]

@blazed I often do have cravings at least once a month to go and play through any game, as long as it is stimulating. It has gotten a lot less intense over the past year as my spiritual practice is the elixir to all addictions which is staying in touch with my feelings and emotions. To help, I also took out all electronics out of my house except for a laptop and a phone which I keep outside my room at all times, so that when I walk in my room it feels quite sacred, and blissful.

That is beautiful how people can express their passion through video games. A passion to create new worlds, and to explore the landscape as a badass hero; or to shoot people in CSGO! (I don't know how people find satisfaction in that!). This means the passion isn't specifically for video games, it is just a passion to be creative. So if these people (the millions of gamers) brought there passion to create to the real world, and change our systems to be more free and open like a video game then this could have a profound impact on the world. This is my argument, for gamers to express their love to create in a different way because when they use videogames, the platform is inherently designed to make you lazy, to use your dopamine receptors to keep you hooked. I know people are really benefiting from video games due to even being able to express their passion, but there are more selfless way to do so once you evolve past the self-serving ego structure.

Thanks, I learnt some new things from what you said

Edited April 29, 2018 by Solace

[Leo Gura]

Best way to get over games is to notice how every game -- even the best games of all time -- leaves you feeling hollow and unsatisfied.

[blazed]

14 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

Best way to get over games is to notice how every game -- even the best games of all time -- leaves you feeling hollow and unsatisfied.

I don't know.... most online games yeah... but witcher 3 left me very satisified, it's like one of those all time best movies you just had to experience

I think the artform really shined through in that game for many people.

Edited April 29, 2018 by blazed

[Leo Gura]

@blazed You still get bored with it and quit out of boredom.

Boredom always wins in the game, no matter how good it is.

[John Iverson]

2 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

@blazed You still get bored with it and quit out of boredom.

Boredom always wins in the game, no matter how good it is.

Leo how about watching porn or being horny that you cannot help yourself to masturbate? 

I had a 40 days vacation that I don't watch porn, I don't jerk, Idon't use social media, and I don't watch tv, I just sit being alone, looking at trees and looking everything in nature.. and there I just meditate many as I can until the night came,. So all fantasies all the feelings in that vacation are handledwell,. During that vacation, I have so many ideas come out, that I want to accomplish the moment I go back,. But after 40 days the moment I came back our house I cannot help again myself and it got worse, I am very unconscious that Icannot go to sleep, my meditation, yoga and all the techniques I am doing is procrastinating.. because I am watching porn and masturbating, I cannot help myself, it is so hard it controls me more than I can control that and Icannot sit alone.. my mind has an excuse that the view is not like in the province... all the time I will see walls it is so ugly to see walls, the stickers on the wall and my bed my posters I cannot do that I want in the nature for me to sit alone and do nothing, I also have a plan to have a work, life coach, but the momentum is broken.. my sexual energy is wasted it so different now how can I do life coaching if I am this again, Ipractice positive affirmations for about 3 months and I am practicing what think and grow rich offer, that when it comes to sexual energy I am not that powerful.. I try to do law of attraction.. but now I have lost in the track, I cannot even sit being alone how can I think ideas.. sitting alone for me is important because that is the time I can continue to think an idea..

 

Edited April 30, 2018 by John Iverson

[Leo Gura]

@John Iverson

1) Ego backlash

2) Sex drive is hard to just stop. In fact you bascially can't. The only way to transcend it is through lots of conscious spiritual puriffication work. I wouldn't worry about sex too much. Don't try to suppress it. Learn to accept it and to fulfill it in healthy ways.

[John Iverson]

15 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

@John Iverson

1) Ego backlash

2) Sex drive is hard to just stop. In fact you bascially can't. The only way to transcend it is through lots of conscious spiritual puriffication work. I wouldn't worry about sex too much. Don't try to suppress it. Learn to accept it and to fulfill it in healthy ways.

Thank you

[Colin]

@Solace You don't need to play video games, Just listen to this song while watching a sunset with some friends and talking about emotional things. Also eating Ice cream. 
 

 

[Arkandeus]

Quote

What I have realized is that, even with the most emotional and enchanting game I have played in my life, the feeling of connection, safety, and love you receive from genuine friends far outweighs this artificial world. It doesn't matter what the game is, in the end it is still pixels flashing on a screen generating a physiological response inside of us to the stimuli.

 

if your heart responds then it is real, 

there cannot be a single second of life that is meaningless and that is not bursting with the vitality that the universe expresses

they are consciousness exploring life in different ways with different rules, different ways of being and if you are in connection with a fantasy world it is not by chance, life is trying to show you something

the heart always points towards the truth

life is infinity

Edited May 1, 2018 by Arkandeus

[pluto]

The less you play games the more you will see how much more fun playing the game of life is and the more meaningless and boring they appear. The more you play, you'll get caught in old loops, it will appear fun but with an evolved consciousness you will suffer because you are already mastered this and unless you play out of random pleasure once in a blue moon it will only be pulling you into an old loop you already broke free from, so in a sense playing the levels you already completed.

 

Edited April 30, 2018 by pluto

[krazzer]

@Solace man, how times change so quickly. When I was 4, I played Super Mario Bros 3 on a NES. Which was awesome, but I can see that something like Kingdom Hearts can have a lot more impact on a 4 year old.

[Solace]

@krazzer It did. The value of speaking your truth no matter what life brings you, and having the courage to face your fears for the well being of your friends (or your heart as I see it) has stayed with me, and that makes me feel so lucky to have played it. I'll probably replay it in the future to re experience the beauty of that story, as a once in a blue moon kind of thing as Pluto said.

That shows for one stage in a persons evolution there can be real value in playing those higher conscious video games, then to embody the virtues you learn there and bring it into every aspect of your life, as I did by acting the way Sora would throughout my childhood

@Colin  That's the perfect song to relax and even reminisce to. I'll try that one day!

[Guest Quanty]

Video Games helped me to connect with myself in a world full of false seriousness.