Chess can be a great distraction from life's little (or big problems) for an hour or two. I think like any subject (playing football or playing the piano, etc) investing time to become a better player is fine, as lomg as it doesn't consume your life.
I have other prioriites to, a relationships, my son, sport, etc - and no God is NOT important in my life, chess easily comes before God in my priorities (and most of my friends)!
Lol, okay.... We are all going to see when he comes, its going to happen very soon. I would rather live a life of God,(for it is a better life) and find out that he doesn't exist, than to not live one and find out he does. I don't understand what you people think? Your going to die? Then? With those thoughts nothing does matter.
Im not saying that you can't play chess or your a complete idiot, only that chess is nothing but a tiny game which anyone could have made, if you enjoy the game *VeRy* much then great, but its not helping anyone.. So in the end do something thats going to change the outcome of the future. But in the end, everyone will do what they can for themselves. So does it really matter if I post this or not?
Please Define what you mean by "does it matter?"
Your attempt at existentialism is greatly lacking! I'm not saying I don't understand the point you are trying to make, but here is your logical issue.
"Living a life for God". How does one know the life they are living is "FOR" God.
Do you base this on a life of "works" that on the surface have a religious or pious motivation?
Do you base this on missionary work or evangelism? All these things that other humans might judge are a "life for God", could in reality be the same vain motivation as someone spending their life to become a Grand Master.
No one can judge the heart of a man or the motivation which leads the course of his life. Yet you are suggesting a "life lived for God" can only be achieved through what you determine that lived life to be.
So through faulty logic you have made yourself the measure by which a life is wasted or not, by suggesting you are "living a life for God". There is no way for you to determine if your life was lived for God because no human can judge objectively the motivations of their own actions let alone anyone elses.
GREAT philosofy=) i loved reading your logical arguments immortalgamer
props and respect! ..may you live forever;P
Fyah,
are you living your life "for god" selflessly for the sake of god, or are you using god as a tool to look down upon others and feel smug? Since you're preaching damnation against a board game I think its the ladder.
eat dirt and die please.
I don't believe in God but if I did:
1) I would agknowledge that the things all people and animals do were because God desired it so.
2) If God desired it so, then it has meaning, God's meaning.
3) God gave us a multitude of ways in which to experience the world. Chess is one. Monopoly or Go Fish are others.
4) There is a limited time here because God wanted us to have a "time limit." This to me would probably suggest that he didn't want us to waste too much time. He wanted us to get to the activities that make the world worth living in. To me chess is one of these.
5) He may have also known that you need time to grow. Maybe chess is one way to grow. There are many benefits as others have stated.
6) Happiness is hormonal. A biological reaction to things we enjoy. If this is so then God willed it to be so. Therefor, anything that makes you happy is what God wanted.
There are obvious flaws with this and that is the reason I don't believe in God. Along with many other paradoxes associated with God.
I respond to this thread because I see myself at 14 in you Fyah. I'm not trying to belittle you or make you feel unwanted. This is a wholesome place where people come together to experience one another. It's a beautiful thing and it's free.
One man cannot save or change the world. It takes all of us to do good works in life and to be happy to do our share. Chess is here like any game to help you push your brain's limits. If it were not something else would take it's place. We need to play to grow.
All things that people do are relevant because they make the world what it is. You may feel the burden of life right now; you seem very nihilistic for someone with such intense faith. Nietzche once said (as best I can remember) "Consider the cattle as you pass them by. They know not what is meant by yesterday or today." Live in the moment kid. Meet lots of girls or boys and learn how to be a great friend and companion. Because, as it turns out, most of us spend the rest of our lives as companions and some of us never spent the time to learn how that might be done. I hope you learn to enjoy the simple things someday.
Anthony
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What is it? If you are asking if chess is worth the time practicing and studying, then im going to have to say yes, because, in fact, I play chess for "it", not in spite of "it".
Those who know don't say and those who say don't know.
So please ignore this comment because since I said it I obvioulsy don't know what I'm talking about.
Which makes it the truth after all.
Let's play chess.
I third the Glass Bead Game recommendation (Herman Hesse), along with Demian by the same author to anyone who's interested.
For 'chess' read tennis, athletics,juggling etc. Lots of people have the luxury to take their hobbies very seriously and they do even though they will never reach world championship level. That they do so doesn't mean they are wasting their life or being selfish and all the rest of this twaddle.
I quite agree. For that matter, you could substitute "chess" with religion or spending time thinking about what "really" matters. It appears that the human has evolved into an animal that seeks meaning and is dissatisfied until it believes it has found meaning. This does not lead to the conclusion, however, that there is such a thing as absolute meaning. After all, the human also seeks to understand its environment fully, yet never will; so the quest for the impossible seems part of our makeup. The meaning of my life is whatever I genuinely decide it to be. Maximizing my enjoyment is an important part of the pattern of meaning I have chosen. Chess is part of that. So is sex. So is beer. So is telling and hearing jokes. I know people who have made other things, such as material success or their church the meaning of their lives. If it works for them, fine. It is arrogant to assume that all lives lived prior to the invention of this or that religion, or this or that philosophy, of this or that brand of beer were meaningless. If you choose not to assign meaning to your life, and that works for you, that is ok too. You are not capable, however, of assessing the meaningfulness of my life, nor am I capable of assessing the meaningfulness of yours. Oops, time for another beer.
Rael, Yes I read most of not all of Hesse's novels, and at the time enjoyed them all immensely though the specifics of each escapes me. And yet as you wrote of the Glass Bead Game or Magister Ludi, I remember snippets about it, and how you describe it, the combination of music, art, history, and literature, I remember the feeling of it. Perhaps I will re-read it some time and see how the concepts take on a deeper or perhaps different meaning as I see it through the experience of these years. Steppenwolf was another favorite of mine. As best as I can recall, it illustrated the separation of the psche or the soul, and touched upon the alienation of a thoughtful man who had nothing creative to focus his thoughts upon, something like that. I remember the opening lines, how he looked in the mirror while shaving and considered running his razor across his throat and how he hid in the pleasantness of middle class society and yet felt apart from it, a lone wolf.
Now that's a thought, reform the world based on the pursuit of science, art, music, literature--the pursuit of thought instead of the pursuit of power over others, instead of the pursuit of wealth for its own sake. To pursue life in the service of accomplishment in some field instead of conquest for the sake of conquest. Yeah, but I don't think I will hold my breath waiting for this to occur.
Yes, it was an excellent book.
i think this thread has attracted more trolls than cheater_1's has. Instead of flaming a 14 yr old kid who could be completely new to the internet, maybe we could show him some respect. Chess.com is a pack of wolves who goes after little 14 yr olds..... how embarassing. The kid has an opinion which clearly most chess players dont share. Politely say you disagree and get on with it. I read some people say that they hope this kid dies... What kind of worthless trash is posting things like these? Death hopes? If you think this kid is a troll, then there has to be something worse than a troll to describe such people. This thread should be locked (unfortunately)... because of the chess.com response...
Halaluja Olimar, the fine man that you are!
Really, someone said they wished he would die. How horrid! That is disgusting. Olimar, I agree, and thank you for pointing this out.
Hey, thegab03, good to see you!
darius good to see tou too, for you are a man of heart, full of wisdom that balances his words truely & honestly, you do proud to CC with your words of someone that is sain!
Do you mind if we have another game of chess, for I'ld like to explore my last error with you?
Let's see:
Member Since: Nov 25, 2008
Last Login: Nov 26, 2008
Profile Views: 159
Points: 12
Birthday: Aug 30, 1994
So the account was created for one day for the express purpose of trolling. We know that the person who made the account is familiar with chess.com because they say
Sometimes I see posts like "whats your longest win streak" and "whats your view on yada-yada", you know.
Just a guess, but I'm betting that the "birthday" isn't in any way suggestive of the posters genuine age, but hey...
I disagree Rael. It seems that his logic was that of a teenage boy not unlike myself at his age. I honestly think he believed the things he was saying as I would have at that age. I don't think that the post was an attempt at what you call trolling. I think he honestly felt that we were wasting our time here and was looking for answers much deeper than whether or not one should dedicate his life to chess. I think one of my previous posts gets to the heart of what i think he was after.
I could be horribly wrong however.
Anthony
But no, you can play chess. Do what you want with your life, after all. You don't have that much time, I hate it when people think they will one day become great at something, or one day achieve something great! Only by god's will will such things come to be!!!! People have no control over their lives, no one knows when they will die. It could be now it could be far down the road, but while your waiting, don't waste your time with these people playing chess, do something good! Help people prepare!
Fyah.. Im sure God hate you