THE TWO MASTER GAMES OF LIFE
SURVIVAL VERSUS HAPPINESS AS A GAME
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THE SURVIVAL GAME
Evolution causes us to be "wired" for doing that which successfully passes on our genes. (Though what actually happens is more accurately stated as that modified version of the gene adds to survival, therefore it persists. Read this to understand the seemingly backwards effect of the process of evolution: Evolution.)
The end "goal", in a sense, or the "purpose" of the survival game is as above: to win by passing on the genes successfully such that they are then passed on successfully through each generation.
It is strictly a mechanical game (once you understand evolution). That's it.
To get the goal, it gives you "good chemicals" so that you are attracted to doing that which promotes survival. If something is not functionally operating toward survival, it will give you an emotional jolt (bad feeling chemicals) to motivate you to get your act together and do the survival behavior and/or to increase your power to survive better. (See The Story Of Our Happy And Our Unhappy Chemicals - A Tale Of The Mechanisms For Survival.)
In a sense, your success in this game lies in getting more good chemicals in the long run and minimizing the bad chemicals. If we subtract the bad units from the good units, we end up with a "net" (after subtraction) score of good units - and that means we are successfully being pawns in the game of survival. Of course, we get the benefits, since ultimately the benefits are "good chemicals"!
THE HAPPINESS GAME
If we stopped at the survival game, we would essentially be living as animals. Of course, we actually are animals but we are also much more - we're animals with a higher brain and also a more developed mid-brain.
If we use our higher brain capacity to its highest use [this is called "being smarter about things", we can use our animal nature such that we can get even more good chemicals!
USING THE HIGHER BRAIN
Fortunately, we are smarter than animals. We are the best survivor of them all because evolution created a "higher brain" for us, as a tool to create better plans and better knowledge from which to survive better.
And, fortunately, that higher brain allows us to create a higher level game, with even more good chemicals. We even create a thing called "meaning", from which we magnify and multiply the "feel good chemicals" from any one thing. Plus the higher brain is so powerful that it can choose better actions that will get us more of the good chemicals and reject/stop those actions that would give us more bad feeling chemicals.
THE POTENTIAL IS FAR GREATER
We are capable of getting alot more good chemicals (than an animal), so we can create happiness way beyond what an animal can do (since it can't do the two functions above).
There is an important distinction here in the happiness game. Other than the actions effected upon the physical world, all of the game is simply in our mind. Happiness is simply something we invented as the end goal we are seeking. It is essentially a way of summing up all the good feeling units minus the bad feeling ones so that we are at a higher net of good chemicals accumulated. Winning in this game is "being the happiest" by having more and sufficient net good chemicals - and definitely it is not "dying with the most toys" or "money" or "glamour", and suc.
AGAIN, WHERE IS IT CREATED?
First, a distinction and some definition is required between two "worlds".
The first world is the "physical" world, with matter and energy following the physical laws and showing up in a physical way.
The second world is the "non-physical" world, which is often called the "meta-physical" world. It is the land of what the Buddha called "mental constructs" - they are constructed in the mind and do not exist anywhere except in the mind.
Well, that might seem like erudite, esoteric, fantasy, worthless thinking.
But it is not "worthless", as we can mentally construct something and give it meaning (which is a "mental construct" in its own) in that world such that the physical connection of the higher mind allows for chemical/electrical interaction. Thus, it is possible for us to affect, physically, the lower minds such that we get more of the good chemicals.
Unfortunately, if we do a bad job of making up mental contructs and making up ways to do things to get what we want, we get feedback in terms of experiencing more negative feelings. Negative feelings are a sure sign that we have not produced the desired result - and leaving a gap between where we are and where we want to be is not "acceptable" to the primitive brain (Lennie), as it represents a "problem" to solve. (That gap is called The Unhappiness Gap, which will create bad chemicals until we solve it by closing the gap.
Since the gap is created by our mind, we can solve it in our mind. We do this by changing bad beliefs (those that cause bad results and bad chemicals) and replace them by good beliefs which actually work in the physical world and/or the metaphysical world. We actually do this by "rewiring" the neuronal patterns that contain the beliefs so that we can operate off of good beliefs that actually get us what we want. To understand this, and how to change our beliefs to get better results in our worlds, you must read sufficiently to the level that you can change them - you must manage your beliefs and thoughts such that you are able to manage your emotions (good and bad chemicals).
If we do that management well, we will win the game in the metaphysical world called The Happiness Game!
If we keep bad beliefs and/or stop short of constructing the best belief system, we will suffer needlessly! However, this seems difficult (because people don't follow a good system or use a good resource), seems like too much work (though the actual payoff is far greater than the energy spent on it!!!), or we're "too busy" (doing things of far less value and meaning) - now is that "unsmart" or is it "unsmart"?
AND THERE IS ANOTHER "PROBLEM" IN HERE!
The world that we evolved in has been changed dramatically. And that means that we need to use our higher brain to adapt to getting the best chemical payoffs from the things in this newer modern world.
If we go by the "survival motivating" chemicals, we will choose to eat sweets for energy without a limit (in caveman days they were in extremely short supply and we needed to load up on energy sources so we could survive the frequest famines and/or minimal supplies during certain seasons). We will choose to "conserve energy" whenever we are not in hot pursuit of game on the savannah, because the body notices if we are not moving, we must not have game or food available, so it needs to go into a "hibernation" of sorts, a conserving of energy - and we end up doing more couch surfing, beyond what is appropriate, to where we are losing out on doing what will add more happiness units. It turns out that evolutionarily we have a Motivational Triad, with one more element than we normally think of - that point is "energy conservation" as a value in and of itself, toward which we are motivated by the body and the non-thinking mind (which is the equivalent of an elephant, in a sense: See The Elephant And The Rider).
There are many more things that involve "impulses" (emotions) to get us going in order to do that which the body/primitivemind wants us to do for what might have been best in Caveman days but which is not appropriate for today's world - such as in the two examples above. If we are unthinking about it, we might take the impulses and think they are commands that must be followed to survive better - but we'll be wrong. If we "think" (i.e. employ the higher brain that is capable of higher thought), we might come to a different conclusion. And to get our functioning in gear to do what gets a better result, we need to rewire the control center by inserting new beliefs about what will get us what we want: more happiness (without screwing the body so that it produces alot of unhappiness later). To do this, we must learn how to effectively get to that point.
All such points we want to get to, whether it is in the physical world or in the metaphysical world, require the same process needed to get the right result:
Learn how the mechanism works.
Learn how to work the mechanism to get what we want.
And to do it to the "sufficiency" level of learning - which means don't learn beyond what is needed to get the desired result - don't keep learning if it doesn't get a better result than is needed - as that would be nonsensical - we should not spend our energy if we don't get anything for it!!! (See Operating Based On The Extra Value Attained.)
HOW WE CAN OPERATE WITH REAL THINKING
The two questions to ask are:
1. "Will this actually affect my survival?"
If the answer is "no", such as would be the answer for seeking approval from someone who has no effect on your life, then you don't continue, because there is no payoff in the survival game. Or I could say that my ability to go get groceries to feed myself is not dependent on the "tribe" for approval, as I can get it no matter what, then approval would be irrelevant. If there is still a belief that is being held, where you automatically expend energy and effort for approval, it should be replaced with a valid one.
Or, I don't really need to eat more, despite my body's urgencies, as it has plenty of energy supply.
2. "Will this affect my happiness, truly?"
Perhaps the answer is "yes" to acting with integrity and "no" to getting the approval of one's drinking buddies (if your values are straight as well as your beliefs around that).
THE BEST TO YOU!
May you win the higher game and live the best life!!!
__________________
If someone ever blurts out to you "Use your head!", I suggest you consider doing so.
