Playing God: The Game That Keeps on Giving

Found this blog and it reminds me of someone. Wonder if he realized that this is how he acts. Anyway, here is the link: http://cruelvirgin.blogspot.com

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Playing God: The Game That Keeps on Giving

I'm finishing up teaching The Epic of Gilgamesh. Basically, it is about a man who plays God, then journeys toward reintegrating his humanity through a close friendship, war, angering the real gods and seeking out immortality via the lands of the dead. I tell my students: "Epics are very specific when it comes to humans and divinity. The gods always win. Don't even try to imitate them. Yet we all do so at some point or another in our lives."

How do you know when someone is playing God? Look for the following:

1. They think in terms of power, not responsibility.

2. They enjoy taking advantage of weakness.

3. They consider themselves superior to everyone else.

4. They do awful things to people because they know they can get away with it.

5. Since they are so busy playing God, they cannot identify with human pain or joy.

6. They forget that authority is a privilege, not a right.

7. They abuse the community instead of serving it.

8. They are probably among the loneliest people in life.


In The Epic of Gilgamesh, the king is a despot: he takes virgins from their husbands on their wedding night because the law allows him to do so--HIS LAW! He kills young men because it is fun. He oppresses the people so harshly that they cry out to the real gods for relief. Even though he is partly divine (his mother is a goddess), his fate lies with mankind, and it scares the shit out of him. What do frightened people do? They mask their fears by making others afraid.


I'm sure you all know folks like this. How many have a boss who believes he is God? How about a wife or husband? Children often think they are God. Celebrities are told they are God. We are saying goodbye to a president and sidekick who see themselves as God. Dictators play God. Eventually the real God will stand up and give these wannabes a kick in the pants, but the damage is done. I have found that these tyrannical junkies create 3 kinds of people: those who identify with the oppressor; those who choose to avoid the damaging behavior and those who become a hybrid of the two.


The first kind may repeat the patterns of their overbearing father or mother. The second kind may be so afraid of their id that they consciously devote themselves to selfless service. The third are the most dangerous because they aren't self-aware; they think they are nice people--perhaps they are, but these traits come out in insidious ways. A friend of mine stopped giving massages because she got too many men who asked her to scratch their face, twist their privates and so on. Their masochism became a camouflage for hurting others. A few assert authority through gossip; they smile at you, but behind your back, your name is mud--pretty soon everyone knows more about you than you know about yourself. Some see firearms as a source of power--I understand responsible gun ownership, but genuine power comes from within, not from an object that kills living things. I know way too many people who claim to own guns for protection, but they never go to the range to practice. They can't even tell you the kickback intensity of the weapon. They don't really want to shoot anyone, so they hope that the criminal will roll over and play dead once that mean machine enters the scene. I used to bug my husband about buying a gun until he said: "The only way I will ever train you to use a weapon is if you can convince me that you are ready to kill another person without hesitation--even if you are in the wrong." What? You mean like murdering people? "No," he said. " But you are ready to accept the consequences if the person you killed happened to be innocent."


Gilgamesh learned that he needed to serve his people, not scare them. Once he ceased to fear his inner demons, he learned compassion. All of us have the potential to play God. But we are better off leaving the job to the one who knows how to do it.