AIRSOFT, PHILOSOPHY AND THE WARRIOR

The “Philosophical"—Mirrored in the Game of Airsoft

The "philosophical" enhances human meaningfulness in a world where meanings are invented/re-invented, created/re-created, and shaped/re-shaped by the human being himself who doesn't allow the Nothing to end up to nothing but finds in the Nothing an exciting challenge in the manner that a creative artist is challenged by the blank canvas on an easel. In this sense, human meaningfulness is something that authentically depends on human creativity. It shouldn't be misconstrued as something bestowed in a silver platter by a supernatural power. The reality is there is no such power. The power that humanity possesses emanates from her/him alone and this reality makes one's humanity exciting. In this excitement resides one's desire to improve and develop his/her talents and make good use of them to make the world a better place to live in.

This conception of the "philosophical" is reflected in the game of airsoft for the game's excitement is a re-creation of human meaningfulness. The game enhances such meaningfulness to the point of desiring to improve one's skills in playing the game: strategy-planning, tactical maneuvering, terrain-exploration, opportunity-discovery, teamwork-building, trial-and-error experimentation and behavior-observation. So that, in the game of airsoft, nobody relies on suerte. It's all skills through and through.

Yet, though there's a simulation of death in the game by way of being hit, such a situation still spells human meaningfulness even at the point of death for an event like that instantly becomes a lesson for you and for the others in the game. Besides, the event of being hit is also an expression of one's courage to do an honest act: Being able to shout "Hit!" after having been actually hit is a test of one's honesty which is a rare thing nowadays. In other words, since there are very few honest people in the present dispensation when so many call themselves God-believing, born-again Christians, honest people is a rarity. But what is amazing is you find many of them in airsoft games. Though it's not always the case for there are still legions of airsofters who are makukunat na zombies.

What makes the game of airsoft more meaningful and more into the enhancement of human meaningfulness than that which we find and experience in the actual Lebenswelt is, in the former, there is a very serious/sincere effort/endeavor to promote, institutionalize and defend HONESTY while in the latter, dishonesty/ palusot/ panggugulang /pandurugas is standardized. There is therefore an upholding of the "philosophical" mirrored in the game of airsoft; very much diametrically opposed to the actualities we find in this very "unphilosophical" world controlled and run most of the time by agents of irrationality, insanity, stupidity and barbaric inutility.

The Excitement is Humanizing—Not Bestializing: Where Appearance is not Reality

What actually appears in every game of airsoft is the trappings of violence: Guys--even gals--armed to the teeth; "weapons of death and destruction"; fierce eyes of suspicious warriors; silent and fast movements always going for the kill. You find them all in a war as well as in a wargame. The difference is: In a real war, appearance is reality; in a wargame, appearance is NOT reality.

In a wargame--particularly airsoft--the reality is that the protagonists are fun-loving aficionados of the exciting life--which is their definition of the good life--who have been burnt out and bored by the routine of weekday responsibilities in offices, board rooms, clinics, field works, production plants, school rooms, etc. Definitely none are warfreaks--in fact, it's even safe to say that these guys and gals are the most peace-loving denizens of the globe. Many are professionals: medical doctors, lawyers, engineers of all sorts, professors in universities/colleges, accountants, businessmen/women, artists, etc.

Yes, the whole set-up gives us the picture of military life: boots, uniforms, guns (BUG). But there is nothing military in the equality of treatment among airsofters who address each other "Sir"/"Ma'm" regardless of age, gender, race, and status in life and career. There was even a time in the recent past (it was a couple of years ago) when as a lone wolf I joined my eldest son who is a seasoned airsofter and member of the elite Special Warfare Airsoft Group (SWAG) to play in a big game in Naic, Cavite. I was assigned to join a team composed of Philippine Navy and Marine officers and soldiers and the leader of the group was a military doctor carrying the rank of a Rear Admiral (2-star General). I was sort of elated when in the course of a conversation, he addressed me "Sir". The natural but amusing reaction from a greenhorn like me was a feeling of elation with the idea that probably this guy thought I was a Vice-Admiral. Well, of course, I was just kidding. But on the serious side, I was really impressed that a real military officer did not hesitate to level himself with a simple non-military entity in a mil-sim (military simulation) event. (Constitutionally, that was quite accurate because during peace time, the civilian is supreme over the military.)

Well, yes, there are also real warriors who play the game of airsoft. But once in the gamesite, they must shed off their real identities and be gamers.

Airsoft and the Will of a Warrior

In every human being hibernate an artist, a scholar and a warrior. But due to the exigencies of time and locale, in most instances, only one or two of these three aspects are developed to the extreme while the other(s) remain(s) in the sea of forgetfulness. In the context of modern reality dominated by science and technology, we have witnessed the flourishing of the scholar and the artist—to be more specific, the scientist and the technologist. I am talking here of what is tangibly seen on the externals. But in every advancement we experience is the persevering presence of the will that pushes progress onward. The accomplishments of the will may not be as tangible as those of the intellect which sustains the scholar and the feeling which moves the artist, but in all of these undertakings, the will cannot simply be left behind and neglected for it is the source of the artist’s and the scholar’s courage to go on with their dreams, desires and wishes. The will is the warrior in us. There is no point in living without the activation of the will.

When times seem hard and discouraging, it is the warrior in us—the will—that presses us on to continue, to pursue what the intellect has decided to be the best course of action and what our feeling has promised us to be satisfying. There is so much of wasted time and inactivity that lead to loss of precious opportunity and further failure because of the weakness of one’s will. And in the process, so many people suffer because of one’s inability to be decisive. Decisiveness is an act of the will.

In the game of airsoft, it is the will that is at the forefront. Decisiveness and the courage to carry out the decision made count the most. In the game of airsoft, the warrior in the airsofter is led out of the shell. As a microcosm of humanity, the airsofter as a strategist is a scholar and as a tactician is an artist. But to carry out a decision and deliver the kill in swift and calculated motion makes the airsofter a warrior. It is the will of the warrior that pushes the strategist and the tactician in the airsofter to achieve his/her goal, to reach his/her aim, to accomplish his/her objective as a team player in a particular game.

The game of airsoft is one most fitting training ground to enhance the will and hence the warrior in each of us. It also makes us realize the fact that we should acknowledge the importance not only of intellect and feeling but more than anything else of the human will.

It is the will of the warrior in us that grants us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change and bestows us the courage to change the things we can after the intellect and the feeling have given us the wisdom to know the difference. In the language of the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, these are “the Apollonian and the Dionysian spirits” that interplay and interact for humanity to give way to the emergence of “the Ubermensch” and let the “Will to Power” take its course as we “Say yes to life” on a moment-by-moment basis within the limits of a reality that is in a state of “Eternal Recurrence.”

Let the game of airsoft be a most significant field to edify the will and hence honor the warrior in everyone of us.

* The author is an airsofter whose nom-de-guerre is Warlock.

© Ruel F. Pepa, 2010