Protasis and Apodosis
Sometimes I play these mind games with myself (start over, deep breath).
Sometimes: I do this thing where I play some game and set tangible goals (usually, a high score) and my internal monologue says: "If you achieve this (completely inconsequential) goal, then..."
that dot-dot-dot being something like - some person I've been fixated on will call me, or I will narrowly escape some inevitability. I've been engaging in this completely irrational habit for as long as I can remember, whether on a Game Boy, a Nintendo 64, the snake game on my bright orange Nokia cell phone circa 1999. I associated a 5th grade Tetris high score with the apodosis - "...then Brian will marry me" (it didn't work). These days, it's 2048 on my iPhone, though the game went out of fashion years ago.
I suppose this neurotic compulsion is rooted in some desire to have control over outcomes out of one's control, or to engage in some sort of divination though intellectually, it's absolutely ridiculous (aren't all rituals, though?). Maybe it's not at all dissimilar to the Babylonians with their baru priests reading the entrails and livers of sacrificial animals.
this evening's protasis: If you hit a score of 20,000...
apodosis: ...then they care about you (30,000 and you are on their mind right now).
Love this. And extra love the photo! ❤️
Thank you!
To all ye sweet dreamers who think the apodosis is the security blanket of a child with monsters under the bed: there ARE monsters under the bed, so cling a little more firmly to your blankets. Ye ARE Babylonians, but you have forgotten HOW to read your metabolic-limb systems and have turned to the intestinal contents of fortunetelling digital idols. How black and magickal of you all! Turn back to the smelly guts of the sacrifice and discover the messages pinned in your hearts.
Oh my god this is amazing
I did this when I was a kid. It was almost as if I made up my own superstitions to inform how everything else in my life would go. I think you're right that it had a lot to do with seeking control. At the time I had very little control of anything. Try Doge 2048.
But the question is, do you do it as an adult?
Not since I started working as a therapist. Working with people made me let go a lot of impulses to control outcomes, and I guess one of the casualties was fantasizing about my actions or achievements affecting things outside of my own control.
I still do that just to entertain myself (but actually half-hoping the apodosis will come true but if not, at least I'd only half-lost, which is just fooling myself of course).
I totally do a version of this, but less with the universe and more with myself. And not just with games. "If I do the dishes now, I can play a game." "If I reach all of the goals in Temple Run 2, I can go to sleep."
I should definitely try to reform this tendency to apply it to getting my dishes done... Temple Run 2. That's one that has driven me insane before.
So much to love here. First of all, I have essentially followed the same game lineage. Tetris, snake, 2048, and screw anyone who says 2048 isn't awesome. As for the divination bit, my gig has always been to turn regular playing cards. Red is yes. Black is no.
Ooh, I've got to try that one. Sounds a lot less maddening and time consuming than obsessively trying to beat games...
It used to be, "Does so and so like me?" Now it's things like, "should I get a divorce?" "Should I move to another country?" I also flip coins. I actually moved to Belize on a coin flip.
Okay, that's awesome. I fully support the idea of moving to a foreign country based on a coin flip.
"Does so-and-so like me?" is actually like, 95% of my divination games with myself...
I love that. I'm now at the age where I don't care if people like me, mostly because I have so many awesome friends on Steemit. I just want to go be a sea witch, but it was a thing until only a couple years ago.
My kids were pissed when they found out I decided on a coin flip, but I maintain the solidity of coin flipping. It's actually something I picked up from the I Ching. In the absence of meaning, true chance is actually the closest you can get to divine revelation or inspiration. I'm going with it.
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Oh gosh. This so resonates with me. I hear you. Great pic too!
If I tell you that the best way to have control is to let go of your control... then will you have an easier sleep tonight?
It's like this Maya Angelou quote:
I know that at least I will sleep a little better after reading your writing :)
I know, I know, but it's so hard to give up control over the things that you have absolutely no control over!
I often think that if I cannot let go of something then chances are it may not be worth holding onto. In this mindset it is not too difficult to give up something, but more difficult to figure out what you should be holding onto...
Nice photo... Divination hmm yes, it can be done in many strange ways I believe, delusion maybe sometimes...
I used to un-objectify things when I was a kid and make them into my friends, I had a deep relationship with the crappy urine-scented elevator in the building where I grew up. It had a kind of friendly robot/spaceship feeling to it...
Do you still do that? There's something so magical about spaces...
No, I think I turned that specific feature off at around 13... Not sure if that specific type of magical-childlike thinking and playful behavior would be of service to me as an adult. But I do still believe in magic and the supernatural to an extent so I guess it is still there a little bit, but it is not the same... =) Thanks for asking!
Do you talk to elevators?