Fantasy Football As A Paradigm For Life

Fantasy football leagues are very popular, even among practicing Jews!:-) The whole concept is a "fantasy". The games aren't really being played, the teams don't really exist, yet people spend countless hours in pursuit of success and victory. A "fantasy" [read "fake"] victory.

Real football is ALSO fantasy. Think about it. Objectively speaking, whether the Jets score more points than the Bill or vice versa is COMPLETELY irrelevant, yet millions and tens of millions have their eyes glued to their TV's to follow the game. It is all a fantasy. Some people made up some rules, then men follow these rules [otherwise they get a fifteen yard penalty...], try very hard to cause serious bodily harm to each other, and people pay they hard earned money to watch. At the same time, the players are empowered to determine if their fans will be happy [if they win] or sad [if chas vi-chalila they lose]. All fantasy. It is really just a silly game. The fact that it is a multi billion dollar business is just a testament to the emptiness of the lives of Americans.

People have deep relationships with their pets. In their mind, they assume that the pet is relating them as they relate to their pets. It is not true. A pet does NOT feel love in the same way a human being does. A pet is not sad or happy in the same way a human being is and yet people still develop "relationships" with their pets and ascribe to them feelings as if they are human beings. A fantasy world.

People live as if their is no G-d ch"v [all people, some of the time - some people, all of the time]. They create an imaginary world where their actions don't really matter in a cosmic sense and they will not be rewarded or punished for their actions. This is pure imagination and they will find that out after it is too late to fix things in this world. I see the way people relate so cavalierly to mitzvos and aveiros. For them the real world is that of the body and the spiritual world is all imaginary. The EXACT OPPOSITE is the truth. The real world is in the realm of the spirit and soul while our world [teach the mekubalim] doesn't REALLY exist [it just seems to exist to us].

The truth is that most our our thoughts and feelings are not coming from an objective place of truth but from the imaginary world we have created for ourselves and that was shaped by our experiences and innate nature. We relate to them as real ["she offended me and I am mad" can be interpreted just as correctly by someone else as "she didn't notice me and I am not upset at all" and by a third person in yet a different way] but they are just a reflection of our imaginary fantasy world.

There is much more to say on many levels but I want to get to the upshot. Try to connect to absolute reality and leave behind the contrived world of fantasy in which we all live to a certain extent [some more some less]. It will make your life so much more meaningful and .... real:-).

Woe unto the person whose whole existence just models a fantasy football league...:-).

Bi-ahava rabba [for real...],
Me:-):-)