Dead Space, Me Alive
I downloaded this game called Dead Space a few days ago. The original version from 2008 (It also has a recent remake). I found it while searching for an engaging way to procrastinate on 'important' stuff.
Usually if you're stalling on something important and playing a game, you won't be able to play it properly at all. But I kept at it, like a maniac. I was playing it today, and after an hour, I realized I was in the critically acclaimed flow state. Yes. The character I was operating had become me, the world of the game had become my world. I forgot all about my real world and real problems.
Ironically, it was exactly then that I actually found myself having the energy to engage back into the work I'd been procrastinating on the game with. I played for a bit and went ahead with my daily meditation, got stuff done, including writing this blog.
The original word for the modern flow state is dhyana. Mediation as it was originally designed can be thought of as created specifically to allow access to the pause-menu for the game of life, where you stop playing the character you call yourself. It's interesting how a game would do that indirectly, by allowing me to become a separate character than myself.
Also, the game is pretty sick. Almost too sick for 2008. Recommended.