helenpatricemain

This is a philosophy that appeals, and I try to live by. Harder than it seems. When caught up in drama, it’s hard to remember that life is a game, and I chose this game.People stare when I say I found my life philosophy in a ‘Star Trek’ novel, but for me, it seems fitting. ‘Star Trek’ fanzines gave me my start in writing stories for an audience. If I’m truthful, the imaginary characters of Kirk and Spock accompanied me on my long walks home from school. Spock and McCoy gave me my first pre-teen crushes. The possibilities that ‘Star Trek’ presented fired my imagination. Isaac Asimov said that Mr Spock was responsible for getting women writing science fiction. Maybe. I know ‘Star Trek’ is responsible for me being braver about going where I have not gone before. This excerpt is taken from ‘The Wounded Sky’ by Diane Duane. If you have not read any of her work, I urge you to do so. She is an intelligent, compassionate writer, and darned good storyteller.

“….Of course….There’s another theory I like that I ran into a while back. It doesn’t satisfy Occam’s Razor, but it some moods it definitely satisfies me.” Jim looked up, curious. “You get to know quite a few people rather well, in my line of work…and there’s something I’ve noticed about the most successful of them, a common quality. The people themselves all have different names for it. But from where I’m standing, it looks as if they’re playing their lives like a game. With energy, delight. Usually not with too much anger – they tend not to be poor losers, either in card games or command.” Harb considered Jim for a moment. “I wonder, sometimes, if they know something the rest of us don’t. Sir, this is all generalization, there are always exceptions. There’s nowhere near enough data to base a genuine hypothesis on. But what if what we call life truly was a game?…as some of, say, the Terrene religions imply it is?”
“A game with what object?” Jim said, mildly interested.
Harb made a gesture that indicated infinite possibilities. “Redemption. Or union with God. Or purposes that seem less important to us…say, whipping up a universe so that you have somewhere to play when you’ve got an eternity to kill. You could make a case for all kinds of purposes, ‘religious’ and otherwise. Those don’t matter for the purpose of this theory. What I’m leading to is that, if life truly were a game, and it started to get stressful – and you had for the time being forgotten it was a game, as people do even when they’re playing something as harmless and remote from ‘reality’ as a board game-"
“I seem to remember spending a certain amount of time sulking last time I had to sell somebody Park Place,” said Jim. “I had such plans…Sorry. Go on.”
"- then if you had forgotten you were already playing, what would you do to deal with the stress?”
Jim considered the conclusion for a moment before he said it out loud. “Go off and play…”

- “The Wounded Sky”, a Star Trek novel by Diane Duane.


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*Philosophy* This is a philosophy that appeals, and I try to live by. Harder than it seems. When caught up in drama, it’s hard to remember that life is a game, and I chose this game.People stare when I say I found my life philosophy in a ‘Star Trek’ novel, but for me, it seems fitting. ‘Star Trek’ fanzines gave me my start in writing stories for an audience. If I’m truthful, the imaginary characters of Kirk and Spock accompanied me on my long walks home from school. Spock and McCoy gave me my first pre-teen crushes. The possibilities that ‘Star Trek’ presented fired my imagination. Isaac Asimov said that Mr Spock was responsible for getting women writing science fiction. Maybe. I know ‘Star Trek’ is responsible for me being braver about going where I have not gone before. This excerpt is taken from ‘The Wounded Sky’ by Diane Duane. If you have not read any of her work, I urge you to do so. She is an intelligent, compassionate writer, and darned good storyteller. “….Of course….There’s another theory I like that I ran into a while back. It doesn’t satisfy Occam’s Razor, but it some moods it definitely satisfies me.” Jim looked up, curious. “You get to know quite a few people rather well, in my line of work…and there’s something I’ve noticed about the most successful of them, a common quality. The people themselves all have different names for it. But from where I’m standing, it looks as if they’re playing their lives like a game. With energy, delight. Usually not with too much anger – they tend not to be poor losers, either in card games or command.” Harb considered Jim for a moment. “I wonder, sometimes, if they know something the rest of us don’t. Sir, this is all generalization, there are always exceptions. There’s nowhere near enough data to base a genuine hypothesis on. But what if what we call life truly was a game?…as some of, say, the Terrene religions imply it is?” “A game with what object?” Jim said, mildly interested. Harb made a gesture that indicated infinite possibilities. “Redemption. Or union with God. Or purposes that seem less important to us…say, whipping up a universe so that you have somewhere to play when you’ve got an eternity to kill. You could make a case for all kinds of purposes, ‘religious’ and otherwise. Those don’t matter for the purpose of this theory. What I’m leading to is that, if life truly were a game, and it started to get stressful – and you had for the time being forgotten it was a game, as people do even when they’re playing something as harmless and remote from ‘reality’ as a board game-" “I seem to remember spending a certain amount of time sulking last time I had to sell somebody Park Place,” said Jim. “I had such plans…Sorry. Go on.” "- then if you had forgotten you were already playing, what would you do to deal with the stress?” Jim considered the conclusion for a moment before he said it out loud. “Go off and play…” - “The Wounded Sky”, a Star Trek novel by Diane Duane.