Playing a Different Game
- tstanescu
- 6 days ago
- 5 min read
We’ve talked in past about how empires shaped the world we live in today. But what we often overlook is that empire was never just a political system or a period in history — it’s a pattern.
It’s a way of thinking, acting, and perceiving that repeats itself through generations. Even when one empire falls, the pattern finds new clothes. And although we may think we can “fix” the pattern from the inside, it always has a subtle way of engulfing us back into itself — because it knows how to feed on pride, fear, and the illusion of sides.
🜏 The Subtle Lie of Good vs. Bad
Most of us were raised to believe the world is divided into good people and bad people.
But “good” and “bad” always depend on perspective. What’s “good” for one group may be “bad” for another. Empires exploited this by training us to see everything as this vs. that, us vs. them, right vs. wrong. We were rarely taught to think for ourselves, to ask deeper questions, or to see the many sides of the story.
This is how the empire-pattern survives: it polarizes our emotions into conflict, so that we argue endlessly about sides instead of seeing the bigger truth.
The real path is not about choosing one side or the other. The real path is about walking the middle way — the way of truth, balance, and coherence. Not blind “neutrality,” but a conscious refusal to be trapped in false opposites.
🕸 How Society Tricks Us
The empire has shaped culture for thousands of years. It doesn’t tell you “be selfish.” Instead, it builds systems where we naturally act that way:
Work-for-money trap: If the pay stopped, most of us would leave. That means our service is conditional.
Scarcity mentality: We’re taught there’s “not enough” for everyone, so we must grab for ourselves. In truth, there is enough if we learn to share wisely.
Competition: Constant comparison — “what I have vs. what you have.”
Conditional kindness: “I’ll be good to you, if you’re good to me.” Love becomes transactional.
Us vs. them: We are told to pick a side instead of realizing that life has many perspectives and deeper solutions.
Even leaders and rulers are often just keeping alive a machine they inherited. The real seed of empire is not one king or one government — it’s the way of thinking that says: “Take for yourself, because there’s not enough for all.”
🗿 The Archetype of Empire
At its root, empire is not just a system — it’s an archetype of consciousness. It is the figure of a person who believes:
Everything belongs to them.
They are superior to others.
Nature is only a resource to exploit, not a living being to respect.
Force, control, and domination can achieve anything.
But this archetype also carries a hidden weakness: it constantly demands attention and admiration.
It wants people to look at it, believe it, and be amazed by its achievements.
It feeds on constant gratification because deep down it lacks trust in humanity — and even in itself.
It is impressed by its own power because it doesn’t understand the greater creative power that emerges when many beings cooperate in harmony.
From a rational standpoint, this is a mistake: no individual or empire can stand above the web of life without eventually destroying itself. That is why all empires have eventually fallen — and all empires will eventually fall.
Egypt rose with divine kingship, but collapsed into foreign rule.
Rome grew through conquest, but fell under its own weight of corruption and spectacle.
The Spanish and British empires stretched across the world, but crumbled as their colonies broke free.
Empire is not one man, one nation, or one era. It is the same mask, worn by the same thoughtform, over and over.
🧬 The Children of the Conquered
Another reason the empire-pattern feels so hard to escape is because it’s not just external — it’s inherited.
At one point or another, our ancestors were absorbed into empires:
Some by force, through war or slavery.
Some by fear, threatened into obedience.
Some by obligation, bound by taxes or survival needs.
Some by manipulation, convinced it was “for their own good.”
We are the children of those conquered. Their trauma didn’t disappear — it was passed down through generations in beliefs, fears, survival instincts, and cultural habits.
This is why empire-thinking can feel so deeply ingrained. Even when we want to live differently, we find echoes of conquest in how we think about money, security, status, or trust.
The good news is: once we recognize that much of this isn’t ours but inherited, we can begin to heal it. We can choose not to repeat the pattern. By confronting it, forgiving it, and replacing it with new coherence, we release not only ourselves but also our ancestral line.
The Inner Compass: Belief → Perception → Thought → Emotion
Here is the hidden cycle that keeps empire alive inside us:
Beliefs shape how we see the world.
If we believe life is scarce, we perceive shortage everywhere.
Perceptions create the lens for our thoughts.
We start thinking in terms of “mine vs. yours,” “winner vs. loser.”
Thoughts stir our emotions.
Comparison breeds envy, fear, or resentment.
Trust and gratitude create joy and compassion.
Emotions fuel our actions, which reinforce the original belief.
This is why empire works so well — it implants the belief (“there’s not enough”), which cascades into a whole cycle of scarcity, fear, and control.
But once you see the cycle, you can break it. You can choose beliefs of abundance, unity, and trust. That shift reshapes perception, thought, and emotion — and coherence begins to flow.
Life Without the Empire
What most of us have never been shown is that there is another way to live. A way beyond empire, where:
People trust each other instead of competing.
We recognize that we are all part of one unity.
Our differences bring unique perspectives that contribute to innovative solutions.
Lessons still happen, but we don’t label them as “good” or “bad” — we see them as learning.
Resources are not hoarded, but managed together with gratitude.
Nature is not exploited, but treated as a living partner in creation.
This vision is not fantasy. It existed all over the world in many indigenous traditions, in small villages, in spiritual communities. And it still exists today whenever people come together in circles of truth, cooperation, and love.
Empire taught us that “there is no other way.” But history and experience whisper something else: we were never meant to live trapped in empire’s game.
Why You Can’t Beat It With Its Tools
If you fight empire with pride, anger, or by playing its same game, you already lost. Every time a revolution turns into ego, violence, or domination, the energy just feeds the same old pattern. .
That’s why empire pattern has lasted so long: the mask changes, but the game stays the same.
The Way Out
The only way out is to stop playing their game entirely and start a new one:
Share instead of hoard.
Act from love even when it costs something.
Refuse false opposites and look for the middle truth.
Build circles of trust and cooperation instead of pyramids of power.
Align beliefs, perceptions, thoughts, emotions, and actions so they vibrate coherence instead of contradiction.
This isn’t about being perfect. The universe doesn’t count “good” and “bad” deeds like a scoreboard.
It only asks: Which way are you leaning — toward control, or toward love?
The Beautiful Secret
Once you see this, the empire’s spell begins to break.
You realize: you were never meant to fight inside its game.
You were meant to build a new one. 🌱