If you are the eighties or nineties kid, then you must have played famous Nintendo game, Mario, at some point in your life. Oh, what days were they? Isn’t it? Controlling and steering Mario through various obstacles and troubles and then finally rescuing the princess. What a rush it was! But now that I look back and wonder, Mario seems much more than a game. It’s a simulation, which speaks volumes about human life. Yes. It’s not just a game. It’s something from which we can learn a lot. Specifically about the human condition. And about the world in general.
Well, even the Mario we controlled had degrees of freedom, and not everything was destined. Yes, it had to complete its mission (every stage) within a particular time, and the path to the destination was fixed. But how it moved and faced and avoided the obstacles was completely dependent on the player who was controlling him. And players are not perfect. They make mistakes or play badly, sometimes even intentionally (yes perverted minds).
What if Almighty is one such player? Controlling us the way we controlled Mario. But can we (the Marios) trust this player? What if this all-knowing player makes mistakes? That too purposely? There is one difference though between our lives and Mario. Our life doesn’t have a happy ending. And unlike Mario we all are going to die. Also there is no princess for us to rescue. We come alone and die alone. We have to rescue ourselves. Well, as long as we can (For we are ultimately gonna die).
Schopenhauer had once said, “The human existence is some kind of error.” Well, it seems to be true. Existence doesn’t make sense. Not just ours but that of the whole universe. Why something rather than nothing? Also, it costs a lot to create something. The blessed calm of non-existence is much more attractive than the clutter that lies all over the space. Then why all such drama? Why existence?
There are many ways to approach such questions. And one of the ways is through none other than Mario game itself. Why Mario exists? The answer is — so that people can play and amuse themselves. Developing Mario was costly. A lot of resources were used. But still the game developers and Japanese company Nintendo created it. They did it in order to profit themselves from the amusement of others. So here we have it. A possible explanation of the existence of our Universe and ultimately all the living and nonliving entities in it. The universe was created (at a lot of cost, for ‘nothing’ is cheaper than ‘something’) so that someone (Almighty) could profit from it. Or rather to amuse certain beings, i.e. players (souls) which are controlling us.
If we think along such lines, another question arises. If Almighty created this Universe just to profit from it or amuse himself then what kind of Almighty is he? Certainly, this God isn’t divine in human sense. He is just curious. Curious to see how well all the Marios (us) will face the world they were born in. Curious to know how some certain players will control and steer us (the sorry old Marios in this world). And these players are none other than the souls. A single soul (player) controls multiple Marios (explains why people are similar) and at different instances of time (explains reincarnation?). A player’s sole purpose is to amuse himself, which therefore amuses the Almighty. If that is so then, this God is not morally good in human terms. For taking pleasure viewing the live reality TV show or how the game (our world) unfolds is not an indication of virtues (which of course it is a human construct) in a being. It rather says otherwise. That the almighty was utterly confused and bored until he sprang this universe and the funny beings like us into existence for drama. Now he is curious to see how we (Marios) and ultimately the players (souls) are playing in this world just as humans are when they pay a visit to a zoo.
Like Mario is hardwired to make certain moves, such as jumping, running, firing fireballs (of course, if they attain power) we too are hardwired to certain things such as breathing, eating, self-preservation and ultimately propagation of our species. This is a simple truth. We do a lot of stuff (which we would have not otherwise done if we really had free will and complete rational mind). One of such things is sex. Deep down subconsciously we want to propagate our genes. We want to produce the best kind of children. And that blind impulse of ours is what urges us and is responsible for our obsession with sex. Had we not been obsessed with sex our species wouldn’t have continued as it has so far. Had sex been a traumatic and painful experience no one would be indulging in that activity. But God made it pleasurable. So that we can produce children. And hence more Marios for God’s players. One must therefore agree with Schopenhauer. This urge inside us to produce the best kind of our future scions blinds us.
“Right after the copulation, the devil’s laughter is heard,” said Schopenhauer.
So not only we don’t possess a complete, 100% free will, we are also hardwired to things like sex. Like Mario, we are forced to do things (the blind will to be blamed) which we have no control over. Like Mario a human life is partly destined (reaching the flag post at the end of each level, which is none other than death itself in our case) and part of it is a result of the free will of the players controlling us (how we behave and make moves during our fixed journey to the flag post (death)).
The Almighty not only limited us (like Mario in the Mario world) it also takes special pleasure in observing how we are behaving and acting in response to a crisis or obstacles. Certainly, these are not the qualities of a normal and sane person. These are the qualities of a perverted being. And of someone who is full of mischief and has an insatiable curiosity. There is something instead of nothing. There is this whole drama of different ideologies competing with each other and struggle for things that shouldn’t, after all, matter, which our Almighty finds pleasurable to observe. This Universe is a reality TV show for God or a Mario game for God’s players. Therefore this cosmic observer is infinitely mischievous and unmeasurably curious.
Many of us believe in the concept of Mukti (which is not exactly like Judeo Christian salvation, though it is loosely translated in that way). And we believe that each of us holds the possibility to achieve the ultimate. To realize the full human potential. This is a fancy and attractive idea indeed. But it seems that God doesn’t want us to become a yet another Buddha. It doesn’t really want the humans to achieve their full potential. The reason, I say that is because the peaceful times on Earth do not last for long. Perhaps for only three or four hundred years. The rest of the time we humans are fighting with each other. For petty reasons such as — “my faith and God is the true one”. Death by epidemics such as plague and by senseless violence is, therefore, the default state of affairs on Earth. The peaceful times that we are currently living in will too not last for long. Once again we will revert to Stone Age. And will resume killing each other for petty reasons and in the name of God. Therefore the fact that peaceful times do not last long in this world suggests that God is not at all interested in human beings achieving their full potential. For if he had been, he would be busy creating a perfect environment where achieving mukti or moksha could be possible. Instead, we are thrown into a senseless and violent world (most of the times) where achieving our full potential is nearly impossible.
There is a famous proverb in India — “Satyamev Jayate”. It means that the truth is always victorious. But is it so? If we read history books, it seems otherwise. Truth doesn’t win. The one who is powerful wins. And such victorious men control the mass media or the people who teach and write history. What we thought as an example of good prevailing over the bad, was instead the opposite. The powerful men won. They wrote the history books. And now we hear false stories of such bad men that they were the ones who were virtuous and righteous. Therefore “Satyamev Jayate” isn’t true but false. You are always bad if you are on the losing side. The sad and simple truth is — Someone who has power is dominant. Truth is not powerful. Powerful people decide what is true or false.
To sum up -
1. God sprang this universe into existence so that his players (and of course he) could amuse themselves by controlling Marios (us).
2. God is not divine but curious. Like a child observing animals in a zoo.
3. God doesn’t want humans to achieve their full potential, for if otherwise the peaceful times on Earth would have lasted and would last much longer than the violent times. The reason God is responsible for violent times on Earth is that free will seems to be an illusion. So people have violent thoughts because of Him and Him alone (destiny).
4. Satyamev Jayate isn’t true at all. Truth never prevails in this world. Truth is a popular opinion which is shaped by those who are victorious. Therefore God is not with the righteous people. It is apathetic. It isn’t with anyone.
With all these points in mind, we may come to the conclusion that God is indifferent when it comes to good or evil. He is apathetic towards the miseries of the beings in this Universe. All he cares about is the amusement he and his players (souls) derive by controlling us Marios in this strange and senseless world. Perhaps we should accept and say it at last. God is Devil and Devil is God!
(Please Note — If you find the idea of God’s players (few souls controlling multiple Marios (which is us)) ludicrous, well, the whole article is preposterous. But I hope you enjoyed reading it. It was meant purely to tickle one’s mind. And I hope that I succeeded?)
