00:00When action is taken without action, nothing is left undone.
00:06Even when one is immersed in the depths of the abyss, one must maintain the essence of
00:11tranquility.
00:12Dang it!
00:13No!
00:14Welcome to Deep Thoughts While Gaming.
00:19Today I find myself on a contemplative journey through a colorful realm of minor background
00:24characters from the Studio Ghibli movie, who live to battle each other in physical contests,
00:29worthy of a mildly sadistic Japanese game show.
00:34Fall Guys is an online-only battle royale that involves a string of four games, where
00:39an initial set of 60 players gets cruelly whittled down to a single blood-splattered
00:45warrior champion.
00:48Figuratively speaking.
00:49Sure, they may actually look like a hot dog or a sushi roll, but come on!
00:55Blood-splattered warrior is the only way to describe whoever makes it through all this.
00:59Squid Games has nothing on this brutal critique of capitalist competition gone mad.
01:05Where's the Emmy nomination for Fall Guys?
01:09In reality, though, Fall Guys is an advanced meditative training simulation created by
01:15ancient yoga masters, or possibly Zen monks, or reclusive Taoist hermits.
01:21Whoever they were, they had one clear goal—to show the player the impermanence of everyday
01:26life and the need to adopt a calm, unperturbed view of human struggles.
01:31A door that we encounter might well be a wall, while some walls are really doors.
01:37Being blown off a tube by a suddenly appearing enormous fan is an opportunity to explore
01:43new paths, and potentially even reach one's goals all the more quickly.
01:49Just like how if you lose your job and get dumped by your partner, you might find a five
01:54dollar bill on the ground that very same day.
01:57True story!
01:58No, that wasn't me crying, it was the hot dog.
02:03In Fall Guys, as in life itself, striving forward as fast and determinedly as possible
02:10often actually leads to setbacks.
02:13Narrow tunnel vision focused only on the next step forward can leave you vulnerable to a
02:17sudden punch from a giant boxing glove.
02:21Instead of plunging ahead, the way to succeed is to embrace an unworried mind, free of anxieties,
02:28and to fall into a state of flow.
02:31Victory in the end goes not to the one who is always racing ahead, but the one whose
02:36moves follow the course of nature.
02:39The experience calls to mind the ancient Chinese Taoist philosopher Zhuangzi, and his story
02:44of a lord who was watching a butcher cutting up meat.
02:49After asking him how he became so skillful, the butcher replied,
02:53What your servant values is the Tao, or the Way, which goes beyond technique.
02:59When I first began cutting up oxen, I did not see anything but oxen.
03:04Three years later, I couldn't see the whole ox, and now I encounter them with spirit,
03:10and don't even bother to look with my eyes.
03:13Sensible knowledge stops, and spiritual direction proceeds.
03:18I rely on the sensation of heavenly patterns, strike in the big gaps of bone and flesh,
03:24am guided by the natural spaces and gaps, and follow what is inherently so.
03:30To which the lord replies, Excellent!
03:33I have heard the words of a butcher, and learned how to care for life.
03:38I too have heard the words of a fall guy, well, mostly squeaks, and learned how to care
03:43for life.
03:46No longer do I pay much attention to the apparent successes of my rivals, or worry that others
03:51are ahead of me.
03:52Instead, I allow myself to drift forward, dancing with the energies of the universe
03:58around every obstacle, hanging back coolly while traps snare those in front, suddenly
04:05pressing forward when the moment is ripe, and never, ever losing my pure and unsullied
04:12calm state of mind.
04:14But even when that little pink son-of-a-sushi roll gets in my way on purpose to block me
04:20from reaching the finish line at the last minute, and I end up rolling off of the...
04:24Yes, tranquility is the most precious possession of the unperturbed soul.
04:30Who cares if you grab an opponent's tail or not?
04:34Yes!
04:35Got it!
04:36I mean, ah, so it goes.
04:40I remain unbothered, even when I should have gotten into that floating ring if I had been
04:46pushed off course by some jerk who obviously has no chance of winning, and is probably
04:52just sitting on the controller accidentally.
04:54It's actually a toddler pushing buttons at random when they should be being supervised
04:58by a responsible parent or guardian, and yet here they are, ruining my chances of coming
05:04out on top.
05:08As I said, I am cool and collected, part of the natural flow, with no thought of winning
05:14or losing or other such vulgarities.
05:16It would take more to phase my meditative state than a few wee sprites trying to outpace
05:22me as we jump around rolling logs to avoid deadly slime, even if they keep unfairly getting
05:28in front of me and burning up the little hexagon tiles.
05:33After all, only an unenlightened person would let himself be emotionally affected by the
05:38mere experience of jumping between platforms trying to be the last one standing, letting
05:45the others fall to their doom while you deftly evade every barrier.
05:50What matters is being in communion with the cosmos, not who wins or loses.
05:55Why should I even be pleased with seeing my last remaining competitor finally make the
06:00wrong leap and go plunging into the void, while I, at long last, win the gold medal
06:07and emerge the glorious, blood-splattered champion of all Fall Guys, whom all must bow
06:15before in awe.
06:17Take that, hot dog.
06:19Ahem.
06:20I mean, that'd be silly.
06:24Keep watching Deep Thoughts while gaming, and as always, maintain your inner peace.
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