Paris

So I've been watching the reactions of my friends on Facebook regarding the Olympic opening ceremonies. I've seen essentially two types of reactions:

• I'm offended.
• You need to chill out.

I don't want to comment on which side is correct (I think they both are in their own way). I'm more looking at it from a human psychology and existential perspective.

The more I think about, the more the idea of existence as a drama makes sense to me. A continuous cycle of setup, confrontation and resolution. And the most captivating dramas evoke the strongest emotions.

I've mentioned before that there's this book called The Law of One. Woo-woo disclaimer: It's written by three people who believe they channeled an alien race named Ra. The book states that this world is in a state of being polarized towards two different outcomes: service to self and service to others. People are figuring out if they want to pursue group goals and help the collective or personal goals and help themselves. They claim one isn't better than the other, simply that one is more chaotic.

That being said, with the drama idea, we are all playing characters. The degree to which we embrace our character is the degree in which we are drawn into the story. If we are pursuing the service to self path, we are fully immersed in our role and are doing what's best for our character. And the more real the character is, the more drama is created.

Take the opening ceremonies. The drag queen performers were embracing an aspect of the character they play. They were fully being their authentic characters and living it out loud. They furthered the drama and, as a result, the Christians embraced the characters they play. They were fully living their character out loud. And what happened? Confrontation. People are taking their roles very seriously and defending them. They are embodying the drama and creating more of it. Is that bad? No, it's just furthering the story being told.

Now, if you're someone that recognizes the drama, you realize that everything you are is a fiction. An avatar for you to walk about the story in. And you start embracing your true self, the being behind the character. You don't take your role personally. You begin to live light-hearted because none of this is real. Or at least not deep reality.

So, in the end, it's fine either way. You can choose to immerse yourself in the story and identify with your character. Or you can wake up from the dream and recognize it as a fiction. It all depends on what kind of life you want to experience.