Remember Your Mission & Avoid Metaphysical Distractions

Imagine this: you wake up one morning and find yourself immersed in a vivid virtual world. The sunlight glimmers across a pixelated horizon, and the faint cries of trapped villagers echo through the air. You’ve been chosen as the hero, tasked with rescuing the innocent, defeating the final boss, and restoring peace. The controls are intuitive, the path is clearly marked, and the instructions are simple. Yet, instead of grabbing your sword and stepping into the first level, you hesitate. You sit down and start speculating over the code that powers the game and the nature of the developer of the game.

“How does this digital world exist?” you wonder. “What is the connection between your avatar and your real self? What is the nature and essence of the designer? What’s the algorithm behind this NPC’s behavior?” Hours turn into days, days into weeks, and you’re still sitting on the start screen. The villagers remain trapped. The boss waits untouched. The mission is ignored.

It’s easy to laugh at the absurdity. What gamer forgets to play the game? But step back for a moment. Is this not a striking metaphor for how many of us approach life—and, more specifically, religion?

For some, religion becomes a labyrinth of metaphysical speculation. Endless questions swirl: What exactly is the nature of God? What was God’s first creation? What was the mechanism that God utilized to bring the universe into being? These are profound questions, but when they dominate our focus, we risk forgetting the mission at hand. Reflecting on these mysteries will not determine whether we succeed in fulfilling our purpose.

Imagine if the game developer left a note for players: “I’ve given you all you need to succeed. The tools, the instructions—they’re all in place. What’s not revealed is irrelevant to completing the mission. Don’t waste time on what you can’t understand yet. These mysteries will be revealed to you when you finish the game. But to win, you must focus on the mission.”

Would you keep speculating about the source code, or would you finally press “start” and step into the game?