“I figured it out - I figured it out from black and white” [One Direction]
“All I do is win, win, win no matter what” [DJ Khaled]
Just wanted to share a quick observation on humans, call it a philosophical inquiry if you will. Every person I know of is a sore loser. I believe this is something that lies in our human nature even.
Let me start off by saying that I don’t think that everyone gets angry at “losing”. Actually, I do think that all people would feel strongly in some way about losing, but taking a hard L, so to speak, is something that is exceptionally rare in developed human beings. I’ll stop being obtuse and give you the clue: we humans are very good at twisting the game and redefining it in our favor. So good, in fact, that we do nothing but win. Even if we show sportmanship at losing, we are in fact considering ourselves victorious because of our virtues. Even if mess something up, we rationalise it under the spirit of learning and consider ourselves winners. Does winning even hold any meaning? Maybe it is no more than a coping mechanism for losing.
Let me now take you through the three levels of enlightenment.
First, we gain consciousness of the self, the child; the toddler. In our weak self-awareness, we throw a fit any time we lose; the toddler is smart enough to know what losing is and dumb enough to play in games they might lose.
Next, we reach the status of the average adult. Through years of knowledge, we have learned that it is no good to keep getting mad at losing. But oh, how human it is to hate losing, for it lays bare to us our very human imperfections. In order to escape this painful exposition, we avoid any situation where we may lose. Conscience doth make cowards of us all. But oh, how cunning humans can be, for it disguises this cowardice most expertly. Instead of refusing to play any games at all, they play only games at which they are guaranteed to win! Look outward and inward and dare tell me the opposite - oh, how much I’d wish for the opposite.
Lastly, the human realises what it has been doing and goes beyond. How it has been twisting all games towards itself, the selfish creature that it is. “Do not all games revolve around me?”. I spit and laugh and cry and laugh again - at and with you! Is it bad that we are doing this, you and I? Do not most negative thoughts come from loss? Once we know, is there any escape? In everything we do, we twist victory to our actions. If we realise this and do something about it, do we not just redefine again like we did so many times before?
We spit at our cowardice, laugh at this reality, cry in the face of immutability and laugh again at brighter futures! I do not yet know what these futures may hold, but the thought that there may be even more beyond these habits fills me with excitement. In everything I do in life, I wish to do it because I fully believe in it. This behaviour was a silent beast inside me, but it has now been observed.
As always, I win!