Best Of

We can become attached to almost anything just as our relationship with anything can become the means of discovering equanimity.

The degree to which we are attached to anything is the degree to which we will suffer the uncomfortable consequences of that attachment.
The degree to which we are not attached to anything is the degree to which we do not suffer the consequences of that attachment.

The ego's storyline, which is simply a collective construct of our attachments, is not softened by another storytelling of an attachment. The storyline of the ego is only dissipated by the establishment of a greater life effort in the transcendence of our attachments than in our continued indulging of them.

Even education itself becomes a limitation when a professional student's underlying motivations become an avoidance of facing life's responsibilities.
How much more so can an imaginary game be?

I can relate to others here. I was a teen when home video games first came to market and would often sit playing them all day long. Since I've had times where I had zero involvement with games and others where I've been consumed by them.

Currently a good part of me would like to devote myself to the Buddhist path, but since I do have to work and would like to maintain close contact with family and friends I inevitable soak up the energies of the world. My practice isn't able to go deep, it largely consists of clearing away the accumulated mental and emotional energies, its like constantly swimming upstream. I don't feel its possible for me to really be able to achieve meaningful peaceful states of mind like those achieved in retreat.

So, that's to say I kind of feel like I need some measure of worldly pleasures and human connection to live a happy life. But video games are isolating and addicting, at least to me. I no longer play anything more involved than solitaire or Candy Crush and I limit my time on each. I have however been playing Table Top Role Playing Games (TTRPGs) online with others for a couple years now.

At one level they do feed into the desire for advancement and mastery, which I don't think are necessarily bad in themselves. Only some spiritual paths eschew that form of practice, the Gelug path of TB speaks a lot about enlightenment as a goal to be attained and spiritual qualities as skills to be mastered. It teaches active application of antidotes to harmful mental states.

More to the point though, what I really enjoy about it as opposed to video games is that it is way more social, creative and collaborative. Every group plays it differently of course, but in general the goal isn't to win, but to create a fun and interesting story together. And for myself I've been able to develop more spontaneous creativity, as opposed to the more deliberative written style.

Anyway, not all games are created equal. If TTRPGs aren't your thing, board game nights are pretty common these days at local gaming stores and other venues. They allow for human interaction and aren't "always on" to help avoid addictive tendancies one may have.

Phycological aids to address suffering's causes can be likened to teaching a non-swimmer how to tread water when they find themselves in water over their head.
It can be an undeniable lifesaver compared to drowning in that moment of danger.

Spiritual aids to addressing suffering's causes can be likened to teaching a non-swimmer how to swim. Here, an effective rescue of either oneself or others becomes an instinctive reflex whenever the possibility of drowning arises.

May each present moment of choice, partake of one or the other.