In the gaming world, there are cheaters who enter online arenas with modified controllers, hardware, and what have you that give them a distinct advantage over their competitors. This stuff is frowned upon and will often result in 5000 day bans from these arenas which is the gaming equivalent of the death penalty. Gamers despise this cheating, but it still goes on. It seems the gaming world is as dirty as the Tour de France. I have a friend who is a gamer who despises this cheating, and we have had long discussions about it. For him, the game should be fair in terms of equipment, and it should be purely a match of skill and wits. Some people simply don't have this skill, so they resort to cheating. I asked him if it made any difference to him. Was he still able to win against the cheaters? His surprising answer was that he was able to beat them and win. The cheating made no difference and probably enhanced his skill level. This was an epiphany to me.
Life is not fair. That might be news to a few people, but I think the vast majority of the people reading this already know this. But we all seem to agree that life should be fair in one way or another. The epiphany I had was a rejection of that idea. Life should be unfair. There needs to be a certain level of unfairness and injustice in the world. I gave this concept a name, and that name is "asymmetry." I will explain.
In my study of martial arts, I find that the learning process is pretty basic. I get my ass kicked by someone who knows it better than I do. Those repeated defeats at the hands of my superiors is what makes me better. This is asymmetry. I am a midget fighting a giant. But each time I fight, I grow a little taller.
Asymmetry is the stimulus necessary for these increases of skill. If things were absolutely symmetric, no progress would be possible. All progress is the result of unfairness. It could be an enemy, a friendly opponent, or merely circumstances. In order to progress, we must battle with those things that have advantage over us. If they do not destroy us, they will make us stronger.
The dangers of asymmetry are twofold. The first is that we will be destroyed. This is why no one practices catching bullets. The second is that we will surrender and give up. Wisdom is knowing when to fight and when to run. As long as we can progress, we should stay and fight. If we can only destroy ourselves, we should step away. But we should not step away and take the pussy option if there can be progress in ourselves or our situation even in a defeat. Victory is often at the end of a string of defeats.
The cheater attempts to give to himself an unfair advantage. At the heart of every cheater is weakness. They follow their own set of rules, and their string of victories actually makes them weaker instead of stronger. Similarly, those blessed with talent or advantages grow weaker over time instead of stronger as they remain within their comfort zones and exploit their advantages.
Those who progress continually seek out asymmetric opportunities. Bruce Lee was the master of this. His greatness came from constantly seeking out those who could beat him and learning to beat them. He went against a Hollywood system that was not favorable to Asians, and he became one of the greatest stars in cinema. Life was never fair to Bruce Lee. He had to fight for everything he achieved. The irony of his death is that it seemed that Fate itself was a hater of this man who defied his destiny to become what he was. We can say that life should have been fair to Bruce Lee, but Bruce Lee would not have existed without that asymmetry.
Once you embrace asymmetry, your whining should cease. You don't want things to be fair. Fairness is the desire of pussies. You want the stimulus that comes from adversity. It is good to have haters and enemies. It is good to not always have things go your way. As Seneca put it, "Disaster is virtue's opportunity." Asymmetry is the deliberate embrace and pursuit of disaster.
The fear of asymmetry is the fear of losing. In a victory or loss, we discover who we really are. But as we see, it is possible to lose with honor and win with dishonor. That sense of honor should matter more to us than victories or defeats. The real loss is dishonor and disgrace.
Life should not be fair. You should not want it to be fair. One you embrace this, few things will trouble you further. You won't worry anymore about setbacks, adversity, cheaters, enemies, or the rest. Instead, you will welcome these things as the spurs to your greater development. And when you triumph over your enemies despite their advantages, they will scream out about the unfairness of it all. And they are correct. Nature does not allot virtue equally. Some are better than others. This is the way it should be.
0 comments:
Post a Comment