Life lessons from Chess

This will be brief, but I will expand on it later. I was thinking about Hell. One of the descriptions of hell in the Bible is that it is a bottomless pit. I wondered why it would have to be bottomless? One reason could be so that it is not full! If that’s the reason, why not make it wider? I presumed that the bottomlessness must matter to the sinner who is damned. It must be that once the sinner is tossed into hell, he will “start” falling… and he will feel that he is falling, and the feeling of falling from so high up will be scary,… and never ending, as the sinner will never hit the floor. I then wondered, wouldn’t the fact that you are not landing be comforting? For example, if you are jumping from a 100 story building, one of the most scary things is landing. If you were to fall from the same building and never land… would it be as scary? I don’t know. Thinking about all this led me to the next thought, the need for finality as we live here on earth. We don’t want to keep falling. We don’t want to be kids forever. We don’t want to remain in anyone state for too long. How would it be if we kept living, and living, and living? Would we get tired of living? Imagine living a life whereby you have been involved in 100 car accidents! (You can do it since you will survive them all!) Imagine  contracting an incurable disease and living with it for 200+ years! Would billionaires give away most of their money? May be not! They would keep it for when they turn 4004 years old. How about wars? No deaths at all! So, as much as I don’t want to die, or I am not ready to die yet, I know it is an important part of life. It provides finality or resolution. It helps in decision-making. It spurs creativity. It enables generosity. It makes life worth living. It gives hope. These are just a few reasons why I think death is important.

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Today, I saw a Chess game in which one player’s Queen was attacked. She moved away from the attack, only (for the King) to be mated next move. The choice was to save the Queen or be mated. I cannot say whether the player who lost saw the Checkmate. Whatever the case, I wondered how many people lose games, careers, etc while trying to protect something that they think is worthwhile. They do protect this thing- a Queen in Chess, a lover, or whatever, and in the process lose something greater. I just remembered what Jesus said in Mark 9:43.

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There are times when I focus on my life and what’s happening to me too much. For example, I would like to live a good life. A life of integrity, honesty, faith, hard work, smart work, etc. It is not easy to live such a life. However, if I died and somebody happened to look at my life or read about my life, he or she would read that sentence in 5 seconds or less, and may be not think about it. I know, I don’t live my life so that when somebody reads about my life, they will dwell on it!

Similarly, when I play Chess, I try to come up with the best moves that I can. When I play a very nice game, I want to share it and be applauded for it. If I can teach people how to play the game better or think through things better, I want to do that. For what? I think this is a very important question. Why do I do the things I do?

I would like to make a lot of money so that financial strife is no longer (or never again) part of my life. I would like to create something that will provide financial security to my family, immediate and extended. I know how it would benefit everybody else, but how will that benefit me? Not just today or tomorrow, but in the grand scheme of things.

When I grow older and I can no longer do some of the things that I do now; when I can no longer work as hard, or as long; when I can no longer stay up for 18 or more hours; when looking good is no longer important; when having things my way is no longer important or feasible; … when I look back at my life at that time, is it going to be worth it? Will I be ready to leave in a couple of days, weeks, months, years?

What is it that I treasure most, such that in my old age, I would like that thing to be associated with me? After death, I would like that thing to be associated with me?

What do people think about it in their old age? What did Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Pope John Paul II, my grandfather, people in nursing homes, think? Do they look at their life achievements, or does life take over that they just focus on their “current” situation? After death, do they watch over their life-creations being overturned, squandered, recreated, rebuilt, expanded

All in all? What is the purpose of life? How does it all tie together? Do I need to think about after life? Do I need to prepare for after life? Now?

I know how hard it is to let go of life’s passions - Chess, love, career, etc. How hard must it be to let go of life itself? After all, it is the one thing you have “possessed” all your life. (Does the last sentence make sense?)

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