In chapter on Soul (⇒) we said that Soul does not contribute to our life in any way: Soul is like a passenger; even if we did not have it, nothing would change.
Nevertheless, Soul teaches us one very important thing: Soul sees the experience of life through our body as an educational and entertaining game.
The only and most important teaching that Soul gives us is how to interpret our life: always learning and playing.
Mahatma Gandhi said:
Learning is the activity that feeds any form of psychological, intellectual, and spiritual growth.
Knowledge is an accumulation of learned notions. Knowledge and consciousness are intimately connected:
Knowledge allows one to explore areas hidden by ignorance, which we had in fact ignored before learning to know them; by exploring these areas, we learn more and improve our consciousness in relation to the specific sector.
Knowledge permits us to have more choices and greater detail about the choices themselves, while consciousness allows us to make the most appropriate choice.
Consciousness tells us what knowledge is useful for the individual to learn and what knowledge is not.
A lack of knowledge makes consciousness useless, or rather makes it only an end in itself.
The foundation of consciousness is knowledge. You cannot be “conscious” (aware) of anything unless you have first learned something related to it.
The importance of learning is exemplified by Universal Consciousness itself; in fact, Universal Consciousness created Virtual Reality in order to know itself, to learn.
The reason that a person begins to walk their own Anandayana is that they have learned some important notions, and that their own consciousness has allowed them to understand the importance of creating their own Anandayana.
A person who follows their own Anandayana has decided to continue to learn. Learning is an implicit part of Anandayana.
Learning is growing.
If a person ceases to learn, they stop and are no longer following their own Anandayana.
A person who is following their own Anandayana, exercising the Here&Now, is constantly practising awareness: this is the best way to positively exploit every moment of life, learning at every step.
There is no need to investigate Soul to verify whether or not play is important; just look at a child.
A child explores the world through play, learning, enjoying, and entertaining themselves. A child is serene and finds their own serenity within the game... Anandayana is the path of serenity, so let's play!
Sometimes life us sad, boring or stressful situations, where attempts at serenity are difficult. In such cases, one simply needs to change one's view of the situation: one needs to find the game perspective.
Simply switching one's view of the situation to a playful aspect is enough to feel pleasant sensations within oneself: peace, tranquillity, relaxation, and serenity. What before seemed negative to us can be seen as positive through the game.
The game helps us to exercise the Here&Now, helping us to relax with what we are doing, always with full awareness... in fact, just implementing the Here&Now into what you are doing can become a game.
The only difference from a child is that the adult is playing a conscientious game, therefore maintaining responsibility for their own actions.
While playing, all the pressures, sadnesses, stresses, restlessness, and oppressions fades away.
Playing does not mean taking the situation we are in lightly: adults are responsible; playing means letting the harmful negativity slip away.