“Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence.”

—Vince Lombardi

Introduction

If you wake up one day in the West and say, “I’m God,” nobody will believe you and instead send you to an asylum.

But if you wake up in India or Thailand and declare, “I’m God,” your neighbors would all smile and say, “Congratulations, you have found yourself.”

This is why people such as Jesus Christ, Meher Baba, Ramakrishna, and Sai Baba sometimes declare that “I [they] am,” that they are literally God incarnate.

If the reader has read so far till this chapter, then you will know the conclusion of what I have covered so far:

You are an unawakened God in finite, human form, waiting to regain and remember your divinity and return to the One.

The goal of your incarnations on many mental or physical dimensions, realms, planets, or universes is to serve mainly one purpose:

To achieve divinity.

Every incarnation, such as those on Earth, is part of many cosmic schools, experiencing tangible, finite reality to one day evolve into the whole cosmos.

It is a long and laborious process, but this shows the inherent perfectibility of human beings.

We are all finite sparks of the divine, cast from a single, unitary cosmic oneness to re-know, re-experience, and re-understand itself.

And we are all there to manifest that divine and Godly oneness in an infinite number of ways—be it to play the game of free will or manifest creatively—our goal is to co-create and co-participate alongside the One.

Therefore, regardless of the struggles and challenges you face, you are in an excellent position to say you are in the right place at the right time.

It is all part of a chain of causes and events leading to the sacred union with the divine.

Tetris as an Analogy

Just as humanity’s pursuit of the mystical divine mirrors this process, Tetris mirrors it through the laborious training required to reach it.

Tetris is an exact parallel of the entire physical incarnational process on Earth. This could differ on other planets, realms, dimensions, or universes with different laws of physics or consciousness.

However, for Earth, the correspondence is almost exact.

Before you read the following sections, I invite you to a riddle that you can solve while you read the next part:

Diagram Set 26-1
A	B

C

Do you notice something? Here’s an exercise: rank the three T-spins by beginner, intermediate, and expert level.

Which of the three T-spin setups belongs to a beginner, intermediate, or advanced player?

I will tell you at the end of the next section, along with its relevance to this chapter.

The following sub-sections compare Tetris and the incarnational process. The latter involves what happens in physical life, what we do in the spirit realm between lives, and our eventual union with the divine.

It is based on Michael Newton’s Journey of Souls. Over a lifetime, he documented hundreds of past-life regression sessions through hypnosis from his clients. Through them, he mapped out a roadmap of the entire reincarnation process from the first human life to the last.

Similar findings from compiled near-death experiences from Near-Death.com, the Monroe Institute’s conclusions, and the Michael Teachings also support this.

The Initial Casting

We begin our incarnation on Tetris when we are first cast from our physical bodies.

Here, we choose the roles and personality types that we wish to manifest in the game.

For me, I chose to be a scholar and artisan.

The Lives on Tetris

As I incarnated for the first time on Tetris, I forgot my daily self’s attributes. I forgot I was a novelist and academic.

I stubbornly clung to each match, desiring not to lose. I feared that upon topping out, it would be the end of all existence.

However, as I “died” in my first Tetris match, I realized that I was not dead. I was my bodily self in a three-dimensional space.

I could then “reincarnate” again and start a new Tetris “life.” I moved on to my second Tetris match and repeated the process.

Every “life” gave me more experiences to reflect on and apply my skills.

In between every “life,” I would take extended breaks to reflect on and review each match, much as in a near-death experience.

I would find myself in the company of Tetris buddies and coaches (“spiritual elders”), who would review my “lives” in Tetris to guide me in my growth.

I would then apply those skills in each new “life” until I learned every aspect of Tetris.

I was, at first, young and survival-oriented. As I grew, I became attached to achievements, wanting a high ultra or sprint score.

As I matured, I no longer cared about external achievements or social validation. I just wanted to be myself and play Tetris my own way.

Once I became an “old soul” in Tetris, I realized that my goal is simply to teach and pass down my philosophy to others.

In between lives, I had become a well-respected figure who now passes knowledge and methods to others.

Moving on from Tetris

And now, the role of my “physical incarnations” in Tetris is nearly over, and I may soon fully retire.

I may sometimes incarnate on Tetris to express the godly manifestation and culmination of my skills. But I am no longer attached to the outcome.

I now understand that there is an infinite number of ways to play and express Tetris. And now I embrace the whole.

I now return to the other side, reuniting with it, ready to begin a new “game” in a “new universe or planet,” such as Minecraft, Two-Point Museum, Sonic & Shadow Generations, or Lumines Arise.

Growth is eternal, and I look forward to such, for divinity is the final outcome.

Now, we can return to the puzzle of diagram set 26-1 from earlier.

Most people would think that A is the beginner, B is the intermediate player, and C is the expert player.

Nope, it is the opposite: C is the beginner, B is the intermediate player, and A is the expert player.

This is because of an insight from Bruce Lee’s interview: beginners tend to be all flashy and pretentious. Experts, however, go for simplicity and efficiency.

Complex setups like in C require many piece and field dependencies, which can go against the flow of the field and situation—the right pieces to make it may not come.

Hence, the expert player goes for easier setups, going with the flow, as they are more readily available for safe creation.

They can effortlessly create setups with high consistency as they know how to balance proper stacking with the planning for complex setups.

Less experienced players go for the setup, then plan later, only to fail.

Likewise, in real life, the philosophies of many younger souls are filled with vast complexities. However, as one matures, their teachings are almost always simple, cutting straight to the essence without the fluff.

This is why the teachings of Eckhart Tolle and Thich Nhat Hanh are so simple. Perfection comes with simplicity and clarity.

Personal, Social, and Global Applications

Do you now see how eerily similar Tetris is compared to the actual reincarnational cycle, afterlife process, reunion with the divine, and other things, such as the life review and soul group processes?

We all begin by being cast from the One.

We then incarnate across many lives on Earth to gain experience. We then reflect on them and put them into practice until our perspectives grow.

We then learn all we need from Earth and stop incarnating, rising through the spheres, such as the etheric, astral, causal, akashic, mental, messianic, buddhaic, and logoic realms.

These terms refer to Theosophy’s delineation of the levels of existence beyond the physical.

We finally reunite with the One.

Then, we are free to begin life in another cycle as another sentient being or a different form of existence.

The cycle repeats, and we gain more complexity every time.

This is the nature and beauty of the cosmos, that we are given infinite chances and opportunities to grow into divinity.

It is not because we are reaching for divinity.

Instead, we are all already divine, and we are merely remembering it.

Since we are all aspects of the One, to manifest divinity in human form is the ultimate stage of physical evolution.

Think of souls such as Jesus, Buddha, Lao Tzu, Mahavira, Socrates, or Gandhi. They are God incarnate in physical, human form.

They project the loving and wise nature of all reality. They live as one, manifesting their multiplicity and embracing the paradoxes of dualities.

But deep down, they are no different from you and me.

After all, we are all fundamentally one.

When enough people manifest this godhood, society becomes paralleled by such.

The city of heaven is then brought down to Earth, curing all old wounds and ending social injustices.

Only then would humanity’s spiritual ascension be complete.

And you should rejoice, as you are among the few invited to partake in this grand project.

Apply this fact by appreciating being in the flow of transformation. Embrace the process of spiritual evolution by being eager for what lies ahead.

I once accidentally attended a seminar by a religious group whose name I will not reveal. It disguised itself as a spiritual meetup while intending to convert others. I did not know it was a religious cult at first.

In there, the members tried to convert me by saying one needs to go through an arbitrarily large number of incarnations to finally finish one’s mission on Earth. This was a few million.

They said that, through their religion’s practices, one can complete the cycle in one lifetime.

To me, I felt such a dogma, if true, would defeat the purpose of reincarnation. If we were here only for a single lifetime, there would be no depth of experiences needed to gain wisdom.

Hence, I kindly told them this and that the purpose of life was not simply to reach some end goal. Instead, the purpose of life is life itself, being present in the now. There is no rush. I then left quietly.

Rushing through one’s spiritual incarnations would be like taking a ten-hour flight to Rome, stopping by the airport for an hour, and then flying home. Instead, one should embrace the moment and visit many parts of Italy.

We are all here to learn and should cherish the spiritual growth opportunities given to us to perfect ourselves.

It is a chance to regain and remember our divinity, not a punishment that we should grow tired of.

Just as being spiritual is to manifest our fullest potential as separate selves, spiritual growth is not about reaching some end goal alone.

Instead, it is to manifest in the now mindfully, allowing every second to be a manifestation of the undivided timelessness beyond.