'The Game Allegory'
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Your post also reminds me of the movie AVATAR, where the characters were put into "game" bodies. This could represent the soul being put into the body.
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Here's a funny coincidence. Coursera (online university with free courses from accredited brick university lecturers) is running a course on Game Theory right now.
If anyone wants to develop an understanding of people's motivations & how to judge with wisdom while satisfying everyone in a given situation (especially regarding money!) then a knowledge of Game Theory can be very useful )
http//www.coursera.org/course/gametheory
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Peace Man
The game allegory theory, when taken in the lighter vein it makes interesting reading. But when its lines are juxtaposed with the seriousness of the Book's verses, I become a bit stingy to read the article lightly. The meaning of life is to know for sure that you shall attain your heights of wisdom to secure your dwellings in Gardens both in this world and in the world after, with calmness and serenity and that you shall live with peaceful coexistence, journeying in His path God created us from nothingness before even we were a gamete; and the universe was created from nothingness in six periods; all his creations were silent without a whisper of a sound while coming into being and only the destruction is caused by a 'Big Bang', dismissing such theories being attempted at creation. Subtle is creation; bigbang is destruction!
God has created the heavens, the earth and everything in between and upon it the man not for sport and play; and further cautions those who listen to the ayats nonchalantly. There is not one life for every one here but many many rebirths in this world itself, in this life itself.
"Is he who was dead then We raised him to life and made for him a light by which he walks among the people, like him whose likeness is that of one in utter darkness whence he cannot come forth?"
"Then We raised you up after your death that you may give thanks."
"Allah said to them, "Die"; then He restored them to life. "
"And it is He who makes you die by night and knows what you have committed by day. Then He revives you therein that a specified term may be fulfilled."
The allegory of game is out of tune here in all its reality given the metaphysical nature of man capable of elevating him on the esoteric path to the Truth, by the Grace of God, by the very word from Him, 'Go!'.
Salaam
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Peace drfazl, all.
Thank you, MOF and others who are contributing here.We can speculate, guess, ... The fact is, none of us was allowed to witness the creation?
18;51
I never permitted them to witness the creation of the heavens and the earth, nor the creation of themselves. Nor do I permit the wicked to work in My kingdom.Also the game allegory is "serious", our life depends on it
187-8.
We have adorned everything on earth, in order to test them, and thus distinguish those among them who work righteousness.Inevitably, we will wipe out everything on it, leaving it completely barren.*
Eventually
1849
The record will be shown, and you will see the guilty fearful of its contents. They will say, "Woe to us. How come this book leaves nothing, small or large, without counting it?" They will find everything
they had done brought forth. Your Lord is never unjust towards anyone.Enjoy the game!
Peace.
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Peace drfazl,
I was happy to hear your opinion and I understand your concern. Please note that it is not a theory but just an allegory of the life we live here. One is supposed to take the life seriously after understanding this allegory's principle, but I realize this so-called 'game allegory' can be taken as a joke about God's creation and that was definitely not the purpose.
The reading was meant to be taken lightly with some elements of satire, but the underlying idea and concept was to be taken seriously.
Making the article was maybe a bit controversial, but it was never meant to be entertainment or claiming that God created the world as such. It was meant to be just like it says, an allegory.
I said that factual errors might have entered the article since I wrote it to the best of MY understanding. Whether it was a big bang or not is not utterly relevant, but as far as I have grasped the Quran, God caused the universe to explode into existence, then He commanded everything to come into existence, willingly or unwillingly. I used the term usually known as terraform to describe God's saying 'Be' and it is.
Hope this cleared out some arguments, but I fully respect your dislike if you still feel distaste for the concept.
May God bless you
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Peace good logic,
Exactly, the background to this allegory is extremely serious and I never intended to make a joke about the meaning of life. I thought I clarified that in the end of the article, but it seems I did not make enough efforts.
Also, one can almost never make anything without having negative critics, people simply have different taste and opinion, and we have to respect that, especially as good muslims.
Peace to all of you who posted your ideas to contribute to the topic, I forgot to do that until 'good logic' did that before me. It is wonderful how we all complement each other.
I also thank drfazl for highlighting the potential flaws or traps with this philosophical thinking.
May God bless you
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Peace Man of Faith.
Please do not take what was said as criticism. It is not.
This is a good topic to discuss. Please keep discussing.
You have done a good job starting this " Thread". Worthwhile for all who take part or just read.
Thank you.
Peace.
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Peace good logic,
I mentioned criticism in general. 'drfazl' gave his opinion about the allegory and I tried to meet his criticism as good as I could, but this concept may not appeal to everyone and I accept that.
I noticed you were clarifying about the seriousness of the matter and I acknowledged it.
God bless you
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Peace good logic, man of faith,
I see you both as well-composed thinkers! May God Bless All.
MoF, I am sorry if you felt there was criticism in my post. I just put my observation unequivocally so that it saves time for the author of the thread and the others to set right the initial obstacles that might arise in the mind of a reader who follows the thread. To a great extent I wish to be an obscure spectator in the big gallery of people watching your show as you seriously-enjoy your game. I might raise my finger now and then and it is not blame on you if you miss to notice it amidst the large gathering witnessing the spectacle.
salam all.
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Peace drfazl,
Like I said in a recent thread, it is good to point out potential flaws or suggestionsetc. There is nothing wrong in that. I just wanted to make sure you did not misunderstand my points given in the original message.
May God bless you
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Peace,
There is some conflation of terms going on.
The usage of the word "game" in the OP is a very different usage to the common use. When you think "game" you might get the implications of video games, laughing, joking, wasting time.
Conversely the OP's usage is a more mathematical/clinical usage of the word. Which simply means "a system with N players who can make X decisions to bring each other up or down"; of which video games are a subset but then so is the stock market, housing market, so are all your friendships (social status value), so even is your connection to God and the grace he rewards you with for goodly servitude (i.e. good by way of probation, evil by way of trial).
All movements of things can be decomposed into "games" under the assumption that each entity involved is capable of making choices.
I am not quite sure why you would think that a person talking about the quran, who believes in it wholly, would even remotely make an allegory taking it for a joke. When in doubt, always look for the best face
Also drfazl can you please provide evidence for the following statement, namely the parts emphasised?
God created us from nothingness before even we were a gamete; and the universe was created from nothingness in six periods; all his creations were silent without a whisper of a sound while coming into being and only the destruction is caused by a 'Big Bang', dismissing such theories being attempted at creation. Subtle is creation; bigbang is destruction!
I hope you are aware of 2130.
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Peace,
drfazl can you please provide evidence for the following statement, namely the parts emphasised?
God created us from nothingness before even we were a gamete; and the universe was created from nothingness in six periods; all his creations were silent without a whisper of a sound while coming into being and only the destruction is caused by a 'Big Bang', dismissing such theories being attempted at creation. Subtle is creation; bigbang is destruction!
I hope you are aware of 2130.
Peace, IAMOP
I am aware of 2130 and thanks for reminding. Regarding the highlight God created us from nothingness before even we were a gamete. The following are the references you wanted
199
He said "So will it be. Your God says It is easy for Me. Certainly I have created you before, when you had been nothing!"3629
It was no more than a single Big Bang, and behold! they were like ashes quenched and silent.3030
Then set your face towards righteousness- the nature Created by Allah in which He has made men; there is no difference whatsoever of Allah's Creation; that is the right course, but most people do not know.IAMOP, I do not want the thread to be diverted or disturbed anymore; let it go on.
Salam
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Peace all.
Thank you ,IAMOP, for the link of " game theory".
I like the following quote
You must be comfortable with mathematical thinking and rigorous arguments. Relatively little specific math is required; the course involves lightweight probability theory (for example, you should know what a conditional probability is) and very lightweight calculus (for instance, taking a derivative).
What is the probability of being a witness against yourself in this game?
The companion said, "Here is my formidable testimony."
Also help was thrown in case you wanted to save yourself in this game?
Recall that your Lord summoned all the descendants of Adam, and had them bear witness for themselves "Am I not your Lord?" They all said, "Yes. We bear witness." Thus, you cannot say on the Day of Resurrection, "We were not aware of this."
Peace.
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Elaboration attempt
Another thing to show through the allegory is how easy things are for God, since He has perfect control of the universe. It is probably much easier than I could explain allegorically using this concept, but it still works its purpose.
Try to fathom that God has ultimate control over the incredibly huge virtual world and can run scripts manipulating the running program on the fly. He could create the Earth by some simple commands. Such immense power in His possession.
I understand why the movie "the Matrix" came about, because it can also be used allegorically to describe God's virtual world, if you just remove irrelevant and illogical story parts. What I meant was the concept.
God controls every particle of this world, therefore He could cause everything to simply come into existence and there was nothing to prevent that. Like creating a video game, He can create things out of nothing, the megabytes of information are just replaced by atoms and molecules.
When talking about the dynamics of this concept I realize how abstract it is, and the same goes for belief in God.
We must believe in the unseen and the projection of this allegory can help strengthen our foothold. Develop and elaborate this concept and I am sure you may have, God willing, an easier time keeping the meaning of life on your mind and also counter atheists.
One of the logical flaws of atheists is how they refute the existence of God while it is wholly illogical this world could create itself. The probability, which term science-lovers hold so dear, is practically non-existent, that this world could just exist on its own or being created out of its own "evolution".
Meeting them with a modern concept might bite harder on their obsession with science.
Seen allegorically, how can you detect and probe God if He is an external controller, administrator and owner, of this world? It is not like He is the man on the moon.
Good created this simulation and keeps it running with little interference and occasional story elements (i.e. the prophets etc). Like I mentioned in the first post, He gives buffs and debuffs depending on what we do and lets Satan participate, even if He has no real control, through his deceiving whispers, but apart from that God's participation is mainly subtle. He will not show His true mighty self until the trial is over, otherwise the sole purpose of His creation would become irrelevant.
Anyway, that is it for now. I welcome you to comment and reflect upon what I wrote.
May God lead us into eternal bliss
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Peace MOF, all.
Indeed, Good created this simulation and keeps it running with little interference and occasional story elements ... until the trial is over.
I am going to cheat and forward the game to have a "peep" how it will end?
" We all come out like swarms of butterflies"
"Then the earth will shine with the light of its Lord. The record will be proclaimed, and the prophets and the witnesses will be brought forth. Everyone will then be judged equitably..."
"And your Lord comes, together with the angels in row after row." He will make a grand appearance!
"The stars are crashed into each other".
"The earth and the mountains will be carried off and crushed; utterly crushed".
And this is the best bit for some
"The great horror will not worry them, and the angels will receive them joyfully "This is your day, that has been promised to you."
Sorry folks!. I rewind the game back Over to you.
Peace.