Super Mario Was Life.

“Life is a game, kid! It all depends on how you play!” -Super Mario Adventures

I’ve long used video games as a metaphor, referencing the multitude of game design elements to provide a framework for my understanding of life. It’s my own contextual practice of metaphysics. And there was no game type more metaphysical than the platform game.

Platform games involve guiding an avatar to jump between suspended platforms, over obstacles, or both to advance the game. This was the core experience in Super Mario. The jump represented more than just an action, it represented confidence, faith, fearlessness and will.

Every level the metaphor was presented. You’re at the end of the level, you want to advance but there’s that pit of fire that rests in between you and your destiny.

The fire dissolves your ego and forces you to be transparent with the self. It can represent your fear, your insecurity, your doubt. Or it can represent your confidence, your courage and your determination.

The fire in Super Mario was a personification of the Hindu god Agni; a terrestrial deity personified by sacrificial fire. He is the receiver, holder and distributor of energy, who leads devotees to victory in their battles against their enemies. If you were willing to make the sacrifice, Agni would bless you with abundance and wealth.

See, Super Mario was never about “beating” the game (many of you will claim you have but you and I know better). It was about the accumulation of knowledge of self through action or in this case jumping. The more you embraced the challenge, the easier the jump became. Wether you were successful or not was inconsequential to what you learned about yourself as a player.

Take this metaphor into your own life. No matter how many times you’ve fallen into the fire, know with every jump you take you acquire wisdom. Wisdom that will help lead you through every level of life as you advance.

Jumping is everything.

Jumping is wisdom.

Jumping is life.