The Competition

The Competition

In the movie Searching for Bobby Fischer, the young chess prodigy’s teacher tells his student that in order to win, a champion must regard his competition with contempt. The champion must believe that he is the only one who is worthy of winning. Only with that attitude can one continually win every match.

In an old Twilight Zone episode, an aging, alcoholic gunslinger who used to be the fastest gun around, got help through an elixir that allowed him to be as fast as he used to be. Before every match, the gunslinger would take a sip from a small bottle of the magic potion, and draw faster than his opponent. In his last match, the aging gunslinger faced a younger challenger. As they were about to draw their guns, each saw the other drink from his own bottle of the magic potion. They end up shooting each other in their shooting hands, forcing both to retire from gunslinging.

In another Twilight Zone episode, a baseball team recruited a robot as their pitcher. The robot was perfect, striking out every man he faced. But baseball rules require that a player has to be a human being, so the team installed a heart inside the robot to make him officially a human. After the new heart was installed, the robot pitcher could no longer strike out any batters, because he felt sorry for them and didn’t have the heart to do it.

In the current bestselling book The Secret, a person can do anything, have anything, be anything he or she wishes to be, as long as he or she is in the right mindset and mode of living. The book cites stories of people turning their lives around in a matter of days, or weeks, and at the very most, a couple of years. In short, the book says that anyone can have anything he wants.

Whenever someone asks the Dalai Lama how long it takes to be enlightened, he says it could be immediate, or it could take days, or weeks, or lifetimes, or thousands of lifetimes. There is no specific time limit to reach enlightenment.

In the movie War Games, the computer calculates dozens of ways to engage the enemy in order to win a nuclear war. In the end, the computer decides that the only way to win is not to play the game.

At the end of the movie Searching for Bobby Fischer, the young chess prodigy Josh Waitzkin, after having made an amazing move, realizes that he is a few moves from an ultimate win. Knowing this, Josh reaches out his hand to offer his opponent a chance to end the match in a tie, instead.

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