Win or Lose – Introduction and Mind

"If a man is not moving, he is dying."

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I think we all assume a need to win – in our friends, children, careers, and strategies. Have you ever considered that potentially, the purpose of your life may not be to win, but to lose? 

 

What is the purpose of life? Looking back, the choice appeared to me to be whether to:

1. 1. 1. align myself with my life’s purpose and publically lose, or
      2. live a pursuit of unaligned winning and eternally lose.

 

Truth and victory are not always aligned.

We may triumph in deceit. For a time.

We may truthfully lose. For a time. 

 

But eventually, truth and victory shall consummate their union for good. That’s my gamble, anyway. And one I hope you will make as well. 

Throughout history, our way to Truth had proved to be that bloodied cobblestone forested path of losing self to conquer all which really mattered.

For it would never be possible to win through the pursuit of deceit or selfish gain.  

 

Defining the Win

To win, you must take what you have, the whole man, and present it for redemption to a redeeming power. But it is the gamble on the object of that redeeming power, which decides the win.

"To win, you must take what you have, the whole man, and present it for redemption to a redeeming power. But it is the gamble on the source of that redeeming power, which decides the win."

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Lewis, raised on reading Chesterton, mentored me with a version of this gem:

You are not merely a body, but rather a mind and a heart as well. 

Your body is not merely the physical, but a bit of the magical. 

Your very self is more than just your body and mind.

For when I made it through those hopeless struggles, I discovered I was composed of body, soul, and a bit of the divine magic which evicted the causality of the situation. That magic – that unknown known some call divine –  breathed new life in me.

I needed the defeat over my enemies of life to happen not conceptually or in hope but in reality. Don’t we all? Our foe, fear, if solely defeated in reality, would govern still to torment my mind and hope if we don’t address them all. Because three constituents must cross the finish intact:

• • mind,
  • heart, and
  • strength;

….unified as my souled self. We must gain mastery over each individually and in preeminence, synthesizing all three into our new self. 

This week, we will begin with the mind.

Mind

We need to think in a new way. Our heart drives our mind’s intent. Our mind guides the strategic nature of our self, cogitatively. The mind is not the brain, and shockingly may not even require the brain.

Our mind is merely the coalescence of all our perceptions into a woven framework to present options to our heart. For desire drives our thoughts.

Our mind games out the scenarios and tradeoffs of our potential lives. To order the past, future, and present, against our measured hopes and fears. This is why mankind saves and does not merely consume. 

The wiser the man, the longer the measurement of reward. The wisest mind looks into the most distant future for the most valued reward, which might be purchased with the currency of the present.

"The wisest mind looks into the most distant future for the most valued reward, which might be purchased with the currency of the present. "

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There – like when we’re sitting with a pair of tens against a dealer’s six – the wise mind seizes the disproportionate upside and moves all possible chips to the center of the table in the boldest possible move. And if you don’t gamble, you can never move. And he who is not moving is dying. 

 

That wise mind takes the all-in gamble not because it is immature – but because it isn’t.

 

Next week we will deal with aligning our heart and strength.