“All of us have emotions, happy emotions, sad emotions,
displeased emotions and we need to figure out a way to deal with them when they
arise … If I’m having some negative
thoughts or negative feelings, video games are one way in which I can release
that energy in the context of the illusion of the game. I feel better
afterwards.” (Link to full article)
Maybe I’m just an amateur meditator, and maybe Karmapa has mental discipline like a ninja, but in my personal meditation practice I’ve noticed that ANY indulgence in reacting to an emotion perpetuates our habitual reactivity to it. The Karmapa says more:
“The aggression that comes out in the video game satiates
whatever desire I might have to express that feeling. For me, that’s very
skilful because when I do that I don’t have to go and hit anyone over the
head.”
I’m glad that video games allow us to not actually be hitting real people over the head, but isn’t this perpetuating the same
mental instinct for aggression as acting violently in the real world does?
I love a good video game, but I don’t know if I buy it, what do you think?
Read Previous Post
