What a Grand and Intoxicating Innocence

By Not the Territory · Mar 5, 2022 · 933 · 2

I’m avoiding studying as if it were bubonic. This led me to playing a computer role playing game called The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind all morning.

Your avatar arrives on a hostile island. Everyone hates him. He jogs at 1km/hr and is bad at everything. A single rat could defeat him in a duel, he can’t even use a mortar and pestle properly (how do you do that wrong?), and he will break ten(!) smith hammers before being able to work out a single dent in his armour.

At the end he’s fulfilled an ancient prophecy and saved the land from immortal danger.

That’s all par course for role playing games. Here’s what’s odd, these little messages that you don’t see elsewhere:

You have ascended to level 2: You realize that all your life you have been coasting along as if you were in a dream. Suddenly, facing the trials of the last few days, you have come alive.

Level 3: You realize that you are catching on to the secret of success. It's just a matter of concentration.

Level 4: It's all suddenly obvious to you. You just have to concentrate. All the energy and time you've wasted -- it's a sin. But without the experience you've gained, taking risks, taking responsibility for failure, how could you have understood?

Level 5: Everything you do is just a bit easier, more instinctive, more satisfying. It is as though you had suddenly developed keen senses and instincts.

Level 6: You sense yourself more aware, more open to new ideas. You've learned a lot . It's hard to believe how ignorant you were — but now you have so much more to learn.

Level 7: You resolve to continue pushing yourself. Perhaps there's more to you than you thought.

Level 8: The secret does seem to be hard work, yes, but it's also a kind of blind passion, an inspiration.

Level 9: Everything you do is just a bit easier, more instinctive, more satisfying. It is as though you had suddenly developed keen senses and instincts.

Level 10: You woke today with a new sense of purpose. You're no longer afraid of failure. Failure is just an opportunity to learn something new.

Level 11: Being smart doesn't hurt. And a little luck now and then is nice. But the key is patience and hard work. And when it pays off, it's SWEET!

Level 12: You can't believe how easy it is. You just have to go — a little crazy. And then, suddenly, it all makes sense, and everything you do turns to gold.

Level 13: It's the most amazing thing. Yesterday it was hard, and today it is easy. Just a good night's sleep, and yesterday's mysteries are today's masteries.

Level 14: Today you wake up, full of energy and ideas, and you know, somehow, that overnight everything has changed. What a difference a day makes.

Level 15: Today you suddenly realized the life you've been living, the punishment your body has taken -- there are limits to what the body can do, and perhaps you have reached them. You've wondered what it is like to grow old. Well, now you know.

Level 16: You've been trying too hard, thinking too much. Relax. Trust your instincts. Just be yourself. Do the little things, and the big things take care of themselves.

Level 17: Life isn't over. You can still get smarter, or cleverer, or more experienced, or meaner — but your body and soul just aren't going to get any younger.

Level 18: The challenge now is to stay at the peak as long as you can. You may be as strong today as any mortal who has ever walked the earth, but there's always someone younger, a new challenger.

Level 19: You're really good. Maybe the best. And that's why it's so hard to get better. But you just keep trying, because that's the way you are.

Level 20: You'll never be better than you are today. If you are lucky, by superhuman effort, you can avoid slipping backwards for a while. But sooner or later, you're going to lose a step, or drop a beat, or miss a detail — and you'll be gone forever.

Lever 21 onwards: The results of hard work and dedication always look like luck to saps. But you know you've earned every ounce of your success.
Click to expand...

You know that prophecy I mentioned? It’s a self fulfilling one; you are told the parameters and you’re only the ‘chosen one’ if you succeed, if you do the work and tear yourself away from that captive mirror. Work will free you. The mirrors in our houses and our pockets aren’t the cause. Anything that presents a superficial reflection will substitute—the daffodils will always be there. Get away from them. Stop looking.
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Set2Stun and Foxxx like this.

Comments

If only my life worked so simply, so orderly. Probably why I got addicted to video games in the first place. Never played Morrowind, but Oblivion had similar messages; I missed that bit of character in Skyrim.

jim onion, Mar 7, 2022
Man I hear you. Skyrim lacked character in quite a few areas, at least compared to prior installments. Not my favourite though it has its own qualities.

Morrowind is the fetal position I return to when I'm feeling run down, most likely due to association with a youthful lack of responsibility and an excess of possibility.

Not the Territory, Mar 7, 2022

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What a Grand and Intoxicating Innocence

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