Subject: Explaining Yu-Gi-Oh to Baby Boomers

Hi everyone!  The purpose of this essay is to make the Yu-Gi-Oh phenomenon 
more understandable to adults of a certain age.  I've noticed that many of 
my co-generationists who grew up in the 1960s and 1970s are now the parents 
of Yu-Gi-Oh fans, and there is a lot of confusion and misunderstanding 
between the generations.

First of all, it's hard for media-savvy younger people to understand the 
resistance that we older folks have about "tie-ins" between TV, games, 
toys, and collectibles.  Keep in mind that we grew up in the 
anti-materialistic era when "authenticity" was the keyword, and we are very 
cynical about anything that looks like an attempt by a faceless corporation 
to manipulate consumers.

After all, we grew up in a time period when it was a major scandal that 
some musical groups hired studio musicians instead of "playing their own 
instruments"...and the concept of sampling other musicians' tracks would 
have given us a heart attack!

A few of us, after becoming involved in "electronic frontier" activism 
during the birth pangs of the commercial Internet (while most of our 
friends were bemoaning the "poisoning" of the Net by commercial interests), 
have come to realize that there is something beautiful in total immersion 
into a virtual game universe.  (Which is most easily accomplished in an 
only partially cybernetic world by playing several versions of the game, 
while also watching the anime, reading the manga, hanging out on the 
message boards, etc.)

But most people my age will never be able to understand this.  I ask them 
to take it on faith that we are not merely allowing ourselves to be 
manipulated by corporate interests...instead, we are having the opportunity 
to free our minds from consensus reality in a deeply nuanced method that we 
could never have accomplished by our 1960s techniques of drugs, meditation, 
or "dropping out"...and in a way that allows us to live in the SCReW (so 
called real world) at the same time.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

As someone who has successfully remained a "dropout" from everyday life (I 
make my living as a Buddhist prayer bead maker and translator/distributor 
of chanting CDs), I can assure you that immersion in a gaming universe such 
as Yu-Gi-Oh (or my first love, Pokemon) can be a path to spiritual 
advancement.  Practiced consciously and meditatively, gaming can help us 
toward enlightenment in at least two ways:

(1) It can encourage us to let go of consensus reality for long periods of 
time, thereby loosening the ties which bind us to the physical world and 
its appearance of reality (which is just as unreal as the universe within a 
game), and

(2) By playing heroic characters within a game, we can practice the mental 
and emotional characteristics which are conducive to enlightenment.

There is an old story which describes a thief who wished to marry a 
princess so that he could steal the royal treasury.  However, his many 
years of living on the edge had left marks of cynicism and slyness on his 
face.  So he went to a witch who made him a mask which bonded to his face 
so perfectly that it was undetectable.

Armed with this "mask of innocence", he eventually married the princess. 
But on his wedding night, he realized that he had truly fallen in love with 
his bride, and no longer wanted to steal her inheritance.  With a broken 
heart, he admitted his deceit to his beloved, then tore off his mask.

"I don't understand," said the princess.  "Your face underneath the mask is 
exactly the same as the mask".  You see, the power of love had restored his 
innocence...

For me, playing a heroic character (and I choose to play no other type) 
enables me to practice compassion, courage, and wisdom even when I am just 
"entertaining" myself.

-=-=-=-=-=-

Old hippies such as myself are also pleased to notice a distinctly 
Eastern/Buddhist/Taoist slant to our favorite games.  Yu-Gi-Oh is replete 
with deep explorations into concepts such as karma, reincarnation, 
mysticism, and the unity of all religions.

Consider "The Heart of the Cards".  What does this mean, in an "eastern" 
interpretation?  How is it that Yami can be assured of drawing the right 
card at the right time, even when the mathematical "reality" is that he has 
a 1/35 chance at best?

A properly executed deck is not simply a mechanical/mathematical 
process...it is a "thoughtform", the material manifestation of its 
builder's own planning, strategy, and personality.  This can be especially 
obvious to people who play Yu-Gi-Oh video games, where the financial 
hardships of building a perfect deck are absent.  Have you ever built a 
virtual deck which runs so smoothly that it seems impossible to lose no 
matter what?
(Mine is a combination CyberStein/BEUD/Luster/Zera deck.)

The Heart of the Cards is the unity of all things, made manifest in a 
physical form.  As such, it can be a tool for self-transcendance.  But it 
requires a pure heart and a willingness to set aside one's own 
ego-strivings in the interest of the higher goal.  And thus it is no 
surprise that the Heart of the Cards is most manifest when the duellist is 
playing for a greater goal: rescuing a loved one, or even saving the world...

-=-=-=-=-=-

Everything in life is just exactly what we choose to make it.  As the 
Chinese have said: challenge is danger plus opportunity.  The two sides of 
the gaming coin are obliviousness or deeply centered focus.  As gamers, we 
can allow our game universes to make us numb, or choose to use the game as 
a tool to bring us to a Zen-type inwardness which can release our spirit 
from the constraints of physical and societal limitation.

And that's why I'm asking my fellow Boomers to join their offspring in 
exploring the spiritual possibilities of gaming, instead of staying up on 
our pedestal and missing the opportunity for both parent and child to grow 
together and erase the barriers between them.  I am grateful every day that 
I've had the opportunity to share gaming with my intelligent and creative 
nephews.  I think that I've benefited a thousand times more than they have. 
After all, I simply provide the money and transportation (and a few 
well-chosen but hopefully non-preachy comments from time to time).  From my 
nephews, I have received the keys to new worlds.

Auntie_Peaceful
kandjbeads@hotmail.com

_________________________________________________________________
Send and receive larger attachments with Hotmail Extra Storage. http://join.msn.com/?PAGE=features/es