Imagine a future world where death, disability, disease, war and famine have been wiped out. Imagine a future world where people don't have to work, and even household chores have become fully automated. Imagine a future world where anything is possible.
But hold on, there must be a catch! What would we do with our infinite, effortless lives? We'd have to play games of some sort or we'd get bored rigid. The soul needs goals. We need to run races and fight battles. Competition is necessary for any spiritual being. There are many games to play, and many different rules. But from my experience there are five core principles to any form of meaningful competition.
Firstly, all competitors must try their best. Whatever game we chose to play, it is essential we put our heart into it. To fail to do so spoils the game for other competitors, as they don't get a challenging opposition.
Secondly, all competitors must endeavor to raise the standards of "sportsmanship" or "chivalry." We must try to be "ambassadors" for our chosen sport, and provide good role models for new players to look up to.
Thirdly, we must be willing to learn from our successes and failures. It is the principle of "Karma" that history will repeat itself until we put right our own mistakes.
Fourthly, competitors must not neglect the social aspect of the competition. By playing with others we can form new friendships, relationships and alliances. There is no need to "hate" your opponent. After all, you will eventually "die" and so will your competitor, so there's no need for "bad blood."
Lastly, the main point of playing any game is enjoyment. If a game ceases to be "fun," then playing it becomes a burden rather than a joy. At that point, a person becomes effectively "dead" even if their physical body survives.
Ignorance of these rules are the reason for the failure of both communism and capitalism. Has capitalism failed? Well there's many people starving, or without access to education or medicine. There are many skilled people out of work. This isn't an issue of left versus right but about right versus wrong!
We are the free children of God. This is our planet, our game. The question is, do we want to make it a better game- a game that many more people could enjoy? To do so, we need to carefully examine the principles of competition, and look for ways that everyone can be a "winner," whatever the "score."
Richard Wainwright is founder of the Positive Party in the UK: dedicated to forming political ideas that are not right rather than left but right rather than wrong.
