by Otto Bathurst, UK
I remember really clearly, when I was a 13 or 14 year old boy, looking around me, at the world, at my parents, at the huge buildings, the big roads, the zillions of people, the machines, the days passing me by, back and forth to school, the adults back and forth to work, the books, the sports, the whole thing really, the whole of life and asking myself… “ is this it? all this gargantuan effort, scale, history, noise, life…. there MUST be more to it than just this?”
Now, it wasn’t that I was depressed or anything like that! In fact I was having what I thought was a really nice time – it was just that I didn’t really see the point to it all. Not in a heavy way; just something inside of me was niggling.
Around the same period, there was a very popular computer game called Donkey Kong – you were a big ape and wooden barrels came rolling towards you. You had to jump over them, and if you were good enough you’d work your way up through the various levels of the game (it was actually pretty good fun). Anyway… I remember I used to say to my friends: “It’s like we are all stuck on the first level of Donkey Kong.”
So, once I left school, I began digging around, searching, checking out various religions, new age stuff, travelling a lot, trying all sorts out. Not the whole time, it wasn’t a focused crusade, sometimes life would sweep me up for a year or two… but always in the back of my mind was the question… “is this it?”
And then, one day I came across Serge Benhayon and the teachings of Universal Medicine.
So, what’s it all about?
It’s actually really, really simple.
Stop at any point in your day and take a very, very, very honest look at that day: and at every decision that you made, during that day.
Were the decisions that you made, made by you, purely you, only you… or were they made because of the life that you are in, because of the world that is all around you?
Initially you think, “Yeah, course they were made by me, I’m not nuts… who else made them?”
But then be more honest. Look more closely.
For me, a huge amount of the time, it is the latter. I am being run by my life. I am not running my life, I am being run by its ZILLIONS of ideals and belief systems. I am being run by what I think I should be: as a man, as a father, as a partner, as a television director, as a son, as a friend, as a funny guy, as an upstanding member of the community. I am being run by my need for recognition and acceptance. I am being run by my emotions, by my hopes, fears, ambitions, expectations. I am being run by the hopes, fears, ambitions, expectations of others… the list goes on and on (believe me – it really does!).
But, things are changing… more and more now, the decisions in my day are made by ME.
And that difference is EVERYTHING.
That difference is what Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon are all about.
It’s not complicated. It’s not voodoo. It’s not trickery, magic or space-agey. It’s not hippy, weird or left-field. It’s just a simple choice. Do you want to be making the choices, or do you want to have the choices made for you?
That’s all there is to it.
And thanks to the Esoteric Teachings, I am now off the first level of Donkey Kong.
The Truth about Serge Benhayon 
From within there are two pathways, one that is the way that we truly are, one that is not. The problem is that most of us aren’t aware of this difference, and yet in meeting Serge Benhayon and listening to what he offers, it is clear very quickly that there are two, and therein is the great key of life.
I remember the same question popping up many many times in my life, “is this all there is?” or similar to it. The snap shot was that no matter what level I reached there was always a part missing. Universal Medicine, Serge Benhayon and others have supported me to touch back into the answer to this. I was chasing things in the outside world to make up for the empty feeling I had inside and yet now I truly take care of the inside the more and more stable the outside looks. Essentially this question would come as I was living my life outside in instead of inside to out. As for Donkey Kong it was a simple game that kept us all entertained for hours and has a simple message for me, it comes back to just taking care of what’s in front of you, no use thinking about jumping the fourth barrel if you haven’t even seen the first.
It is so true Otto, that amongst all this constructed grandiosity and stateliness that we have surrounded ourselves with in society, in which we pat ourselves on the back for creating, champion and congratulate ourselves for the intelligence it supposedly represents, what is truly evident all this has not changed the fact that our quality of life, our quality of connection, our quality of health and well-being has not evolved. Our relationship with ourselves and each other have not changed, and in fact we still treat ourselves and each other abusively, without care or love. There is a difference between living in the shadows of the grandiose buildings led by their ideals and belief and all they seemingly represent, and living by the light of the true grandiosity that naturally resides with us all, which represents the love we innately are within and our true way of being together.
“is this it?” I often asked myself this question while at the same time feeling rather guilty as on the surface I did have a lot more than most but when I was introduced to the presentations by Serge Benhayon I knew that ‘Yes, this is it.’
So what was I run by today, what a seriously awesome question and I see that it’s been me for part of it, but also ideas I have of what I think I should do and how I should measure up and it’s great to read this and stop and just check in again and track it back to see that in fact I was there for large parts of my day, very committed and at other parts not and to understand that I still have pictures of how I think I should be and what I should do and so then of course I have pictures of others too, and in fact with both I limit myself and others. But the cool thing in all this is I know this now and here I am reminded again, of how I’ve been me and where I’ve not been me and that I can go deeper and embrace more of me and in doing so I drop pictures of both me and others.
I love this article. Today someone asked me if “I got something out of life for myself?”
My answer was that I choose a lovely way to be in my life, and I enjoy my life to the fullest, there is nothing more I need than that.
I didn’t ask the question in quite the same manner but I certainly asked the question, what is life about, what is the purpose of ‘all this’? ‘is this it? all this gargantuan effort, scale, history, noise, life…. there MUST be more to it than just this?’ Love what you share in this blog Otto.
Donkey Kong is such a great analogy for life. When I think about different levels it is also a reminder that the moment you reach another level, immediately there is another one in sight.
“Do you want to be making the choices, or do you want to have the choices made for you?” I have been a sucker for saying yes to having the choices made for me most of my life until I came across UniMed. I have been astounded just how much and deep in my body I was not making choices for me. I was out of control not knowing how to come back after a sick momentum of escaping my sensitivity and that niggling tension of this is not it. I knew it and no matter what I did or what drugs I took I could not escape. It blows my mind what blessing it is to heal and surrender back into my body and know that it is ok to be this sensitive in a world of tension we cannot ever escape!
Thanks Otto, a delight to read again… you have distilled the entire Ancient Wisdom teachings down to a single, simple understanding and approach to life. To me that shows the truth you have offered as it provides a way forward that brings understanding and simplicity to life’s entanglements and complications.
I love that honest look you speak of Otto, who is in charge here, us or what we have allowed in our lives and what we have taken on; how much of it is true, and how much is it that we do not want to look and we’ve fallen into a comfortable habit or idea of how we think it should look, and behind all of this are those niggles you speak of, the quiet question that goes ‘is this it?’, ‘what is the point of this?’ And when we stop and allow ourselves to honestly appraise this, and bring that honesty into all we do, slowly we begin to untie ourselves from those ideas, those ways which do not support us to be us in life, and we for sure move off that first level! And for me that appraisal came truly when I found Universal Medicine, I knew instantly no matter how uncomfortable I felt (and I did) that this was true and it allowed me the space to stop and get honest with me and my life and understand there is a bigger wider purpose in how we all are and how we live, that everything matters, and the starting point is to be honest.
I had that feeling from my teenage years also, that there had to be more to life, that something was missing. After decades of searching I found that “something more” with Universal Medicine, I reconnected to my essence (the true me that I’d lost), reconnected to my soul, to God, understood the process of evolution, my part in the Universe…and so much more. Boy does Serge Benhayon deliver! Yet it’s not something taught, it’s something shared and then confirmed by how I feel and what I experience, it’s a re-awakening of an awareness and reconnection to a universal truth. Finding the work of Serge Benhayon is definitely like coming home.
The Way of The Livingness is the greatest tool possible to get off not only the first level but to forever keep climbing.
I can very much relate to the feelings ‘there has to be more to life than what I see around me’ throughout my life on and off and they subsided when I met Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine. Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine are supporting me to reawaken to truth but with all the wisdom and knowledge presented and as my awareness expands and felt more deeply, what it comes down to is choice, the choice to be and live me in every moment. Thank Otto for sharing such an awesome blog.
Otto I am sure at some point in all of our lives we stop and wonder that there must be more to life than this? We build amazing buildings and bridges and we are really clever at all sorts of technology and infrastructure, but there is so much unhappiness with life, with each other and with ourselves. When we look at animals they simply operate in their own frames of reference, they don’t push themselves more than they are able to, they are almost content with their world and their place in it. I can certainly say that has not been the case for me. Always searching, looking to improve, find a better version of myself – but none of that was me and that was what was so saddening. I would then be on the search again, but this was only temporary relief. Knowing that I don’t have to search for anything or go travelling anywhere to find myself has been like taking my first breath. Through the presentations of Serge Benhayon I have come to understand that everything is within and all I need to do is connect and listen to my heart.
I love this. What I feel is that a lot of people are no longer even questioning this. They are going through life, not really enjoying it but are not asking ‘is this it’ they are just accepting this. I love the perspectives of teenagers as often they do question this and we need to listen to this, not indulge their reactions but see beyond this to the fact that often they can be asking for more.
A very true expose of how much we let ourselves be dictated by the world and it is indeed very liberating to be presented with the possibility that there is a choice in every moment and that we can step off the merry-go-round we had believed life to be.
Thank you Otto for a great sharing, so much of our life is lived by outward forces, until we realise that we have a choice, this can then clear the way for us to live life by our own choice and not life living us.
Otto thank you so much for sharing so honestly that there is a way out “off the first level of Donkey Kong”.
I enjoyed reading this blog again Otto. Its funny that with each new level we get to, there can be a coasting that occurs, rather than a readiness to keep going, (without any drive or push.) Its great to remain open to what the next level of learning has to offer.
Thank you Otto. I love the analogy you use here, jumping over barrels all the time is hard work and sometimes they take you out. The presentations made by Serge Benhayon have given me the opportunity to let the barrels roll by without being impacted by them.
Life can be likened to a game of Donkey Kong. Today I walked home feeling like I had jumped those barrels and explored other levels just like in the game. Like Donkey Kong, we don’t know what the next day will bring but we sure can be prepared.
This is brilliant and so true. It’s actually quite uncomfortable, painful or disheartening to feel that we’ve been puppets to make almost every choice we have. However being honest about this, accepting the truth and not choosing guilt, shame or hurt we have a marvelous opportunity to step out of this and re-empower ourselves to make choices that come from and are aligned with love, respect, joy, responsibility and heaven.
I agree Danielle, it is uncomfortable and disheartening to feel the ill-choices I have made but unless I am honest and feel them then I am going nowhere but around and around, stuck on the treadmill. It’s not about criticising and being judgemental on myself but to see the awareness as a wonderful opportunity to continue to re-imprint loving choices and evolve.
My teenage years were pre computer games but felt I was dodging barrels and wondering what the true purpose of life was really all about. I was stuck on the first level of life until my mid-fifties when I attended my first presentation by Serge Benhayon and I became aware of the Ageless Wisdom that has always been there waiting for me to return to the true purpose and responsibility of being who I truly am.
‘I am being run by my life. I am not running my life.’ When we get to this point, it’s time to realise we’ve outsourced our control to values, beliefs and attitudes about how our life should be and it’s a great opportunity to begin to make different choices – ones that support us rather than having us running behind our life, trying to keep up with it.
“…there MUST be more to it than just this?” The self-same question that I am sure many of us have had at some point in our lives. Your response: “It’s just a simple choice. Do you want to be making the choices, or do you want to have the choices made for you?” So clear and simple – thanks Otto.
I too have asked myself this question Bernadette, feeling overwhelmed and lost. It certainly does feel very stuck remembering when I wasn’t able to see past my protective walls that life is in fact very grand and magnificent. It’s not because it was not there it was because I wasn’t choosing to see it or live it. I can see so clearly now that it is a simple choice to choose to live what we are here offered with abundance, LOVE.
I agree Adele, very beautifully said. Honesty is key to keeping life simple and appreciating it in every way.
Great blog Otto, I love your level of honesty and your choice to go up a level in life. I can so relate to feeling stuck wondering what the point in life is. But I too have learnt to appreciate that there is so much more, it is not about endlessly searching but about living and continuously making choices that I know I have made from being me. Not by the whole list of ideals and beliefs you mentioned but by connecting to my heart.
Awesome blog Otto, I can relate on so many levels.
Otto I thank you for your simple but insightful sharing. I was looking for many years for the answer to ” is that all there is ” also. It was something I knew I would find but the journey was long and when I found Universal Medicine and the Teachings of Serge Benhayon I came home to the answer!
It strikes me Caroline, that this power to truly choose is actually one of the greatest freedoms you can ever have because when we are trapped in the thinking that that momentum is just us then we are owned by the systems of life and always live at the expense of it rather than just being ourselves
Staying on level 1 of Donkey Kong is to me reflective of life going round and around but continuing to make the same choices and wondering why we’re not evolving to the next level! However stepping off from ‘level 1 of Donkey Kong’ to me is all about taking responsibility for my choices, and keeping this super simple and practical, and you’re so right Jill, it can and does “change our lives”!
Thanks Otto and Natasha, I agree, and for me it is a simple choices and responsibility to make loving choices to be in the amazing light and love of our soul!
Absolutely agree Gregbarness88 ! Simple yet markedly powerful choices that support our bodies and our soulful return.
I don’t know this game Otto but I do understand being stuck on level one, knowing there are more but not finding the key to get there. Through the teachings of Universal Medicine I am evolving and feeling (ever slow slowly) past the first level of the game of life.
Spot on and well said Natasha, that’s exactly what it was.
Thanks Kim
I like this Lindell, they start coming faster on the second level as the more aware we become the more the barrel wants to knock us back to level one. If we have learnt enough from the level one we can choose to keep building our love mussels and become aware of where the barrels come from making this level fun, enjoyable and we get ready for level 3.
‘I am being run by my life’. Very cool line Otto that would confuse many, but bring truth to many more. It would make one question if their action of day to day life are shaping their choices. Are they in motion without question? Is the day pushing and pulling them and they don’t ask where. I love this line.
I do know the feeling of being run by choices not truly made by me but the ideals I have of how I should be. I sometimes just go with it, but I can feel how great it feels to take responsibility and choose that what I do. Being in control of life, not in the mercy of it thinking all is chance and just happens to us, which is an enormous non truth to not take responsibility. I am at the steering wheel, which feels awesome.
There are so many ideals, beliefs and roles we can choose from, it is almost like we can tailor our ideals, beliefs and roles to perfectly fit our life, either that be to play small or to be the guy that everyone likes etc.
Otto, I love this analogy of breaking through the first level of Donkey Kong. We so often accept life as it is, with all our ideals and beliefs and bury the feeling of knowing that there is something more, taking responsibility for my choices was the beginning of breaking the cycle, for me and finding there was so much more to life.
Yes we have the power to choose. Well said. At any given time.
I remember at about 14 years of age looking around too and asking if there was more to life than the script I saw outplaying -school, job, marriage,mortgage and kids. I don’t remember any unhappiness but it was the start of an itch under my skin of what to understand life and its meaning, I always looked for answers outside of myself of course and it was not until meeting Serge Benhayon did I gain any confidence to look within, it has also taken a long time to understand and be more accepting of the power I have to choose.
Thanks Otto for spelling it out so clearly. There are people who are wary of Universal Medicine and what is presented, but the real truth is that all that is being presented is what you share here: you don’t have to continue on the merry go round of life, or the incessant, repetitive levels of a computer game, but that we all have a choice in every single moment, to make decisions that are actually from us, from the well deep inside us that is rock solid and protected from what we call life. It’s not to avoid life, but rather work with what we’ve got, not be used by what we’ve created and then see what happens.
By the way, I got Donkey Kong for Christmas about 25 years ago now, played it all day, and right when I was about to get off a level and move to the next one, I bombed out. I got so angry I flung the screen against the wall and smashed it to smithereens. Aaaah, the magic of God (in hindsight)… telling me to get off the conveyor belt 🙂
This is a really fabulous analogy Otto. Those barrels hurtling towards us are unrelenting when we get swept up in what happens when we let life run us. The tools offered by Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine and the further inspiration received from observing them, and the many students, now living a life with very few barrels ( and those now bobbing by to learn from instead) have turned my life around also.
Hi Otto
I totally was allowing others to make decisions for me, I recognised my need for this and the huge lack of responsibility I was allowing. Since starting to make decisions for me from my body wow that experience is the best and that best isn’t just for me, it’s for everyone. Thank you for your sharing.
When we take full responsibility there is so much liberation in making a true choice that takes the ‘all’ into consideration.
Choosing to take responsibility has been an empowering process and choice that really puts everything into perspective.
“Were the decisions that you made, made by you, purely you, only you… or were they made because of the life that you are in, because of the world that is all around you?” – I love this. What a beautiful way to give myself a stop moment.
So simple and yet so very true Otto. I remember having those thoughts as a child even. But then half way through teenage life all the dramas and issues had swept me up an left me at the mercy of the same list you describe.
It really is that simple, ask yourself ‘is this me’ and if it is not then nominate what belief, ideal, pattern or need it was and let it go. No rocket science but it will sure get you over the moon :-).
Wow Otto, thanks for posing the question that unlocks the conundrum of life so simply ‘Do you want to be making the choices, or do you want to have the choices made for you?’ I can relate to feeling ‘Is this it?’ at so many points in my life until I met Universal Medicine and started to unpick the many ideals and beliefs that had been running my life up until that point. I am discovering ever deeper layers of ideals and beliefs that can still trip me up – it’s like I am now playing Donkey Kong in reverse as I simplify my life and make choices that support me rather than getting caught in the barrel jumping that is everyday life for most people.
love that ‘off the first level of donkey kong’ it sure does rock living free of that first level, funny though how I seem to like the first level and actually chose to reset and go back to the start of the game and play out the same old stuff over and over again, even when I know how to get out and off that to be free and responsible for the choices made. This is happening less and less but it is by no means a straightforward game of going up levels – I am sure it can be with true purpose it would be easy its just it seems we are very attached to the illusion that the first level is it.
Sometimes it seems that we don’t have a choice in life yet we always have a choice. The moment we think we don’t have a choice, is a moment we are invited to have a honest look and realize that no one else makes our choices. It is us, always us. Thank you Otto for this brilliant blog.
How about Heart Kong Otto? Focus on everything inside you, feel the body, express all you are, never worry about racing the clock as there’s no time just cycles, let go of getting anywhere and surrender to what you already are. The levels are the easy part as there is always a much greater love pulling us forward. Each level brings more love to share – winners everywhere! 🙂
Thanks Otto for stating such a grand truth in such a simple way: are we run by life or are we running our lives? There is no doubt that the first option is the default one. How many decisions we can look back and truly say, that was ME deciding on this? Each one of us has decisions that were landmarks. Even those, how many of them were really truly yours? Not many, unfortunately. As of late, I have started making MY decisions about my life and I totally agree with you the extent to which they make a difference. Huge one, I would add.
Before I found Universal Medicine, that level one of existence felt like a prison of old patterns and emotions that I didn’t know how to escape from. Now there is never any wish to escape from any aspect of my life, I love the opportunity to keep evolving and learning and discovering a new way of being.
Your humbleness is so inspiring, Otto.
Yes your humbleness is absolutely inspiring and very beautiful to feel, Otto. I love the Donkey Kong game analogy and that you are past the first level. I felt like, ok so I definitely past the first level, but what is coming now at level 2, 3, 4…. and it felt a bit like work and exhausting to hold myself on the following levels. On one hand life is becoming simpler and more in a flow, but on the other hand that is what I am experiencing as I am so attached to certain ways that holding myself is the most difficult part, but the beauty of it is that it is really difficult to hold myself on level 1, but not because of falling back below, but because I really have to make a tremendous effort to stay at level 1. There is this beautiful pull up and it is not hard to get up, but it is hard to stay down, but I learned my whole life to stay down and I have to let go of all those learnings and just follow the magnetic pull that raises me automatically up to the next level if I stop resisting.
You always bring real humour to the questions of life Otto – taking a serious subject and breaking it down into something simple, and that can be related to. Donkey Kong level 1 is no exception.
I so love this blog Otto. I was never really into games like Donkey Kong. I didn’t see the point. But I can see now that by not wanting to play these games was equally an analogy for giving up on life. And the irony was that all the while life was playing me, given up or not.
But if I’m honest I had actually suspected this for a while but whenever I stopped to consider how this came to be or how I might get off the merry-go-round, it all felt too overwhelming and so my resentment and sense of powerlessness grew. Until like you I met Serge Benhayon and reawakened the possibility in me that I can choose the quality with which I live. Not through any doing or searching or striving or following or reinventing oneself, but by simply listening to the wisdom within my heart and the knowing in my body. The choice to exit the hamster wheel of life is freely available to us all equally and I’d thoroughly recommend it.
Great analogy Otto and I can wholeheartedly relate to a feeling of ‘is this it?’. It actually felt terribly dull to be in my house, school, life…and so I loaded up on a myriad of distractions and behaviours and crafted and honed ways of being that served me in the Donkey Kong version we all got told to play. Meeting Serge Benhayon and hearing that there is a different game altogether being played and for the most part no one even knows that this is playing out – was the key to unlocking a life that is so far away from dull.
I love this Otto and also am grateful for being off the first level of donkey kong thanks to Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine. It is such a relief to no longer wonder if this is all it is and to know there is so much more to life and to ourselves, forever unfolding.
I can clearly remember at moment in my childhood when I asked myself similar questions. The world appeared gray yet a sense deep within knew it was either black or white. This is what I have found makes so much sense in what Serge presents – it’s not fluffy or wishy washy but simply black and white. And the more and more I choose to question my life and feel my body – a place I am learning to trust it’s clarity and natural ability to be black and white – the more life’s seeming craziness makes sense and the dive into the dramas to avoid and push into the forced ignorance of knowing deep down such clarity is loosing its hold.
‘It is really very simple.’ I agree Otto. Then we complicate it with the myriad of ideals, beliefs and expectations that make this life quite difficult. All this feels very linear (straight up and down) and suffocates the spherical (round) way of living that is so very natural. I’ve noticed that there is an expectation to give a reason for making any decision rather than it being a simple decision of how I feel. The world wants a tangible reason and finds it hard to accept anything else.
Otto, you are so right: ‘It’s just a simple choice. Do you want to be making the choices, or do you want to have the choices made for you?’
Phew, thanks to Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine I am also off the first level of Donkey Kong. 😊
Love the analogy Otto, It resonates. I have faint memories myself of being younger and wondering the same thing, about how the world is.
One more vivid memory is of me contemplating what I had been taught about God, and how if you pray to him, you’ll be happy and essentially get what you want. And then I thought about the zillions of starving people in the world and I thought to myself, I bet they’re praying everyday for food and water etc…and nothing is changing for them. I couldn’t make any sense of it at all, and that’s when I decided that the God stories I was being fed were utter rubbish.
Attending workshops and courses run by Universal Medicine has re-awakened me to the possibility that perhaps we create our own harmony and love within ourselves and that it is not about handing over all our power to a 3rd party to dictate what we should and shouldn’t do in order to experience true love in life, even if he is sitting on a throne with a long white beard like a wizard.
Hi Otto, thank you for your simplicity, and how everyday language you have written this in: “It’s just a simple choice. Do you want to be making the choices, or do you want to have the choices made for you?”, With the barrels of Donkey Kong now long gone, and not disrupting your way, you can now so steadily walk back to Heaven.
You got me with the title Otto. I use to love Donkey Kong, it was too complicated and good fun. I remember back when I was that age as well and I was ‘shopping’ around to see what the world was about. I lived in a small country town and so there was a community feel that looked good but underneath it seemed like most of the time everyone was after their own piece of the pie. Nothing made sense in my life and I remember looking but it was like everything just lead to the same spot.
Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine made sense, perfect sense. Not only that, it made sense to what I had seen when I was younger. I am not critical of the world, people or my old community, I just understand more and more. I understand there is a nature flow to life that is simple and doesn’t exhaust you. If life doesn’t or isn’t flowing and it’s complicated that is a sign “life is running you” and it will keep you running. Universal Medicine supported me to stop ‘running’ and now when I start to ‘run’ I just stop and realise that I’m off track. Life isn’t complicated and it’s really just about taking it one barrel at a time.
Thanks Otto for pointing out the many ideals and expectations we choose to live under every day for the sake of recognition. All these obligations can be left behind by simply being ourselves.
What a great piece of writing, The choices we have are the most beautiful opportunity to return to ourself again. But as I can feel, a lot of the time I am still juggling with expactations of others and myself, not truly feeling what is needed at that moment, but abiding to the things I think are wished from me.
Otto, I also have questioned modern life and come to the same realization that there had to be more to it. Universal Medicine has certainly opened up my eyes to so much more, and it is glorious. It is challenging to accept that my thoughts are not my own, and that I have been a puppet but it’s time to move on.
The question I keep posing is ‘where is the magic’ but then its always there, in me. Its just a question of whether I choose that or get bombarded with thoughts from somewhere else.
Rocking the Donkey Kong analogy Otto. I lost many hours of my life to both the game and feeling of big stuck on level 1 of life. Dare I say, I may have moved up one or two through the level of responsibility I have been shown I can take for my choices.
Great question Otto
“Do you want to be making the choices, or do you want to have the choices made for you?”
and it’s one that Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine continue to help me to address.
I never played Donkey Kong but love the analogy anyway. Things come at us all the time in life. Perhaps we get better at knocking them out of the way, or side stepping or jumping over them, however, do we really choose to make of life something very different to those things, or do we stay pre-occupied in their path?. My common saying in a spiritual group I got involved with, was, I know this isn’t it, but its better than nothing. It came from a knowing in me, that there was something special to life that I was missing, and I could discern between what was it, even though I had not met it yet, and what that something was not. When I began using Universal Medicine services, I began to unravel on the inside. I knew I had found the thing I knew was missing. I enjoyed reading this blog and comments and how many others from all over the world have also connected with that knowing and have had it confirmed.
The choices truly are simple, through allowing yourself to be more in every day that we have (:.
Great metaphor, the Donkey Kong. I can still have these days but then more out of observing the world around me being stuck in first level DK and trying to get faster through, improving the ways to get over the obstacles etc. It’s crazy. On subtle levels I also still get caught on a daily basis by the DK way of living. But the wonderful thing is, I know there is another way. The possibility of making a choice and to step out of the game and check-in with me. To know and to be re-connected to this option is a blessing.
It’s an profound stop when we can ask ourselves ‘Who is running our show?’ and acknowledge it’s not us at all, but life at full speed. Taking hold of the reins and bringing it back to us, is the beginning of self responsibility and getting past level 1.
This is a great blog to come back to and I agree Kehinde2012 “who is running our show?”, and to ask myself: “Do you want to be making the choices, or do you want to have the choices made for you?” is profound when I bring it into my daily living – I can either say Yes and live life or simply allow something else to run me and effectively so yes to something that is completely out of my control, the choice is mine.
Yes a great reminder James and calls for consistency and vigilence. The moment we step back, as I’ve seen this week, we invite others in to take control
Indeed Kehinde2012 – we can either take control of our life by saying yes, yes to responsibility, yes to life or we can sit back and by doing so say yes allowing others to take control.
I love how you have made it so simple Otto. It is a very simple question that reveals the enormous complexity of our lives that is actually running us. I remember having moments where I felt like I zoomed out of the world and saw all the mechanics of it and how we were so caught up in it. In zooming out it suddenly all becomes so much more insignificant and a whole new perspective opens up. This is exactly what Serge Benhayon offers, a whole new perspective that not only changes the donkey kong level but the whole game.
It is amazing in how far we can think that we are running our life and have control over everything. Yet when stopping and allowing ourselves to look at one single day of our lives with complete honesty, we realize that in fact life is running us. It may seem confronting at the beginning to actually make different choices that honour ourselves and some old habits tend to die gently, but with choosing to take our responsibility we will truly change our lives from a hectic existence into lives full of beauty, love and joy.
So true Michael…
‘choosing to take our responsibility we will truly change our lives from a hectic existence into lives full of beauty, love and joy.’
From Hectic to Magic ✨
I remember the game Donkey Kong and used to love playing it too as a kid. This is a great analogy in reference to this game. Before Universal Medicine the barrels used to keep rolling towards me and I would be doing my best to avoid them, now I find I can see those barrels coming towards me and it is no longer a scramble to try and jump these but see them coming towards me with much more space and I have the clarity and connection with myself to be able to handle and deal with them. That is level 2, watch this space for levels 3 and 4.
Wow Otto such playful honesty expressed in your blog I love it.
Great description Otto as life really does feel like you are stuck on the first level of a monotonous game when you are not here with your full presence. It is so easy to get stuck on the first level as there is a huge momentum behind you where it just is that way. But it actually doesn’t take much skill to move past it – honesty and a willingness to take a deep look pretty much ensure you getting past level 1.
The one thing I do find is that there the system we grow up in seems to educate us, and shape us to keep playing the level 1 version of the game, rather than offering an evolution to so much more.
The question you raised kept coming back for me as well: Is this it? Is this what we are here for? And I agree with your writing: ‘Do you want to be making the choices, or do you want to have the choices made for you?’ Simple, profound and life changing for me also. Thank you Otto and Serge Benhayon.
Who knew the ‘more’ to life was this simple – to make choices consciously or not!
Such a playful example Otto, a such a lovely way of putting it. Donkey Kong you are totally clock-able! – just bring self-love, openness, a deep honesty to each decision we make.
Hi Otto I loved Donkey Kong as well and could fly through that first level in no time, as you suggested it was so repetitive and those barrels just kept coming – Being presented with the realisation that as you share I am being run by my emotions, by my hopes, fears, ambitions, expectations of others and that there is another choice and another way of walking this this life was truly a revelation.
Thank you Otto. I came to realise that I was being run by a life filled with ideals, beliefs and emptiness, until I could see this I was not able to change it. With the support of Universal Medicine I have been able to see so much in regards to this and have made many changes along the way. To now, feeling like I am not owned by ideals, beliefs and emptiness anymore, rather I have chosen an alignment to something truly divine that allows for decisions to be made in a much grander way than before.
This is beautiful Robyn ✨
Gorgeous Otto, I love this blog and your analogy of Donkey Kong. It’s beautiful to feel the insight you had at 13/14 and how you eventually came to understand what life is all about. The way you’ve expressed what Universal Medicine is all about is perfect.
I really love the picture you are creating here- I played Donkey Kong, too, so I know exactly what you mean! I can feel the power in your claiming of yourself and taking responsibility in really wanting to get out of the old structure, that held you in the first level of Donkey Kong..very inspiring and pulling oneself up to do the same.
thank you Otto for so playfully expressing something so profound. I, too, had the feeling that there must be more to life and it was through Universal Medicine that I am truly presented with the answers.
I love this blog Otto, plain, simple, say it as it is. This is exactly how I feel life can run us or dictate our decision making if we do not stop and look at why we are making those decisions. I can also relate to having a feeling that there was more to life and by the time I reached 17 I was quite depressed by it all, thinking there had to be more to life than what I was experiencing. And then got swept into marriage, having children but the feeling and searching never left me. Then I found Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon who was able to make sense of everything I had and was feeling.
Thank you Otto, very clear and such a great question you ask. Is life running me or am I the one making choices in my life?
Frankly Otto, I am delighted to have stepped off level one. So sick of jumping over other people’s barrels and bashing my head on iron girders 🙂
The analogy is so perfect. We live our lives utterly dominated by the hurdles, the complicated mazes. And we frantically pour all of our effort into trying to “get” somewhere…not quite sure where, but surely it must be worth it in the end. We become so focussed on the challenges thrown at us by life that there is little time to stop…and consider who we are in all of this.
I remember cracking level one Donkey Kong and being so excited. Yes! Level 2 here I come. And just like life has been made to be, it was 10 times more complicated, barrels flying at me at impossible speed. All I felt was overwhelmed and put Donkey Kong down and never picked it up again.
So many of us do this in life. We struggle to “make it”, but “making it” brings complication. And so many of us give up when it gets too hard. Or worse still burn out. Surely there is more to life than this? It is only when we give ourselves a break from the barrels that we create the space to allow possibility to be entertained…that we start to explore stillness, and in that we feel the depth that is inside ourselves.
We are far more than crazed leaping, running monkeys with sore heads!
We discover that when we step away from the strident demands, not ever away from life, but away from the game it has been turned into.
Thank you to Serge Benhayon, and man who has mastered being in life in full, and never caught up in the frantic game.
Otto, I really love your blog – so well put. And I did have this feeling too, that there must be much much more than what I knew and was told growing up. It did not make sense; and I didn’t want to play. Now I understand and I do want to play!
Dear Otto I am sure that after people have read your blog zillions of them like to join you on this next level of Donkey Kong . . . because it was just too much inspiring to not follow your example at least it is for me so.
So if not all our decisions are purely ours (which I agree most of mine have been made by all the things I have been told are true that I have taken on even though a part of me knew they were not) are our thoughts all ours? What if all these beliefs create our thoughts? Then are they truly our thoughts? Or do some belong to say the belief ‘I am not good enough’? If they do should we stop calling these nasty thoughts our own and recognise them for the intruders they are?
I enjoy the playfullness that you write with Otto – it really hits the mark. The sentence that popped out to me this morning is “I am being run by what I think I should be” I still catch myself dropping into those roles that have been a pattern for so long. But! things are changing.
Hi Otto, I remember having a similar feeling as a child, a kind of knowing that the life being presented to me was not the life we were all destined for. And in all my searchings, Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine is the only place where I have found the freedom to not only honour but to commit to that sense that we are all so much more.
Hi Shami, I also can remember really wondering what it was all about…there had to be a bigger reason than to just be born, work, eat, have a family and then die… And there is. Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine make sense of every detail, no doubt about it. No aspect of life has to be a mystery or unknown. When we are ready to know, we will know.
We know there is more than just one level, but we’ve never been shown the way past it.
Love this Otto, and there’s certainly no voodoo or weirdo stuff in any of the teachings of Universal Medicine — just super practical and full of the common sense we all actually know but sometimes get a bit foggy with hen we’re not being so honest with ourselves.
Yay to being off the first level of Donkey Kong Otto, it’s an awesome place to be where you are running your life and not life running you. I love the clarity you offer in your question “Were the decisions that you made, made by you, purely you, only you… or were they made because of the life that you are in, because of the world that is all around you?” I’ve come to realise that our lives and society in general is think with beliefs, ideals and expectations that as you say keep us in one place. I’m forever thankful to Serge Benhayon for taking a step out of that place and then sharing with us all that there is a different way.
Donkey Kong Level 1 over and out. What do we have in store for us on Level 2 and 3?
Me too Michelle as regards the forever thankfulness. We imagine that we are free and running our own show…until we take stock and begin to understand that there are strings pulling us right left and centre.
Interestingly, we think it is the laws and regulations that are our strongest string pullers. When we stop and sense what is truly going on from deep bodily awareness we awaken to the force generated by others opinions that pulls us this way and that – way off our centre. And our fear of standing up and showing the world the natural gloriousness we are and our power in life that is one of the biggest controls of all.
Simple and true, Otto. A great way to describe the work of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine. Taking awareness above and beyond what we accept is life at face value and living in that clarity. I played Donkey Kong as a child and loved it; great analogy — moving beyond the obstacles that keep us down.
I love your playfulness and the cheeky style of your expression – and that it is so simple and powerful! And it’s true – I never felt like on a level of Donkey Kong (I don’t even know it) but as if an ingredient to life was missing. To me love was lacking everywhere, so was self responsibility. There was a constant blaming of others going on (including me) because it seemed easier. Copy paste behavior. By consciously choosing each day to be super-honest with me is now the next level (of Donkey Kong ;-))
I agree Otto, it does take a lot of honesty to discern where my choices are truly coming from. And it is shocking how many choices I make because of factors outside of me.
‘Were the decisions that you made, made by you, purely you, only you… or were they made because of the life that you are in, because of the world that is all around you?’ – a great question. I realised that I was being run by everything else other than my true self. Even though I also questioned the purpose of it all, I never realised that connecting to me was the way to live with true purpose.
“Do you want to be making the choices, or do you want to have the choices made for you?” What a great question and the Ageless Wisdom presented by Serge Benhayon through Universal Medicine truly offers you a choice by clearly showing you the difference between the two and and how to choose the latter if you so desire.
wow an awesome blog Otto! It really begs me to ask the question, Am I living life the way I want it? Am I living with the full joy that I know inside me? am I really living it? Thanks for writing something that makes us be truly honest about our lives.
Top blog Otto. I remember when Donkey Kong first came out and I had a lot of trouble getting past the first level. Your analogy to life is very true. Until Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon came along I was definitely not running my life, my choices were being made for me because of all the ideals and beliefs I had but the more I let go of these ideals and beliefs the more I progress though the levels of life.
Love the way you have written this. It’s so true how often do we think we are making decisions for ourselves but actually often we are caught up in the busyness of life. So are we choosing our life (decisions) or is our life dictating us?
So profoundly simple and relatable, I played that game and felt that same feeling as a child of ‘what the…’ was going on. But never connected those two dots. I love how you claim fully you are well and truly off the first level.
This is one of the most beautifully simple yet powerful explanations of making your own choices in life I have ever read Otto. Anyone can get off the first level of Donkey Kong after reading this if they so choose.
Gosh I love this blog. Over the years, I’ve often had the same thought and went searching for the 2nd level of Donkey Kong and at times I thought I had found it but realised I was still within the parameters/holds of Level 1. It was not until I found Universal Medicine that I saw the bigger picture and my part it in and decided to get off Level 1 and to do that took – as you say – making simple and clear choices to look at what was running me. Awesome heh!
This has really given me a stop moment to consider who made my choices today, thanks Otto.
Dear Otto, you are most definitely off the first level of Donky Kong and it is a great joy to see how you have changed, having chosen the teachings of Universal Medicine as your Way of Life. Much love, dear Brother.
Hi Otto. I love and can really relate to your reference to Donkey Kong. I had a similar experience with the “is this it?” question you posed.
Your right Otto, about the world running our lives. I know it ran mine for almost all of my life till I stopped and asked the question that you pondered: ‘is this it?’ Thanks to the inspiration of Serge Benhayon, I have now found what I had been looking for…me.
I shared your questions… “is this it?” and like Otto can relate to being stuck in life and not getting off the 1st level of Donkey Kong! I too, “thanks to the inspiration of Serge Benhayon have now found what I had been looking for…me.” With this reconnection to myself the world looks a whole lot less scary and intimidating, life contains renewed purpose and I feel settled in my own skin.
I loved this Otto, very simple and honest. I can also relate to saying to myself “there has to be more to life than this”. And now I have found it, thanks to Serge Benhayon.
Love it Otto, so simple and yet so true.
Otto, thanks for spelling it all out and confirming how simple it can be when we stop and feel what is actually going on, and keep checking who is in the driving seat. Thank you for your usual wit and absolute honesty.
Thank you Otto for describing life so succinctly – I remember reading the blog when it 1st came out a few years ago and it still has relevance for all today. Observing you over the last couple of years you are now well and truly passed level 1 now – it shows that whilst the initially getting past the 1st level in life and taking responsibility, full responsibility for our choices and actions may seem hard but once we start we get fast tracked though the levels back to Soul.
Wow Otto, I got chills as you described this life with such pure simplicity! I too walked around the first 35 years of my life asking “is this it? aren’t I/we missing something?”. And I too finally have gotten past that first level of Donkey Kong and am, for the first time, making my own choices in this world. There is true purpose in life, well worth re-finding.
You put this so simply Otto… and asking that question of who is choosing for me today is a real gamechanger.
“Were the decisions that you made, made by you, purely you, only you … or were they made because of the life that you are in, because of the world that is around you ?” Love the way you have phrased this Otto. Great post, thank you.
I love how you have presented such a powerful topic but also kept it simple; we trap ourselves on the first level of Donkey Kong, it makes a lot of sense.
Agreed Jane, great reminder about making the choices to be how we want to be in this life, not dominated by ideals and beliefs that aren’t ours. Lovely piece.
Great Article Otto, thank you. So simply put and to the point. And yes it really is down to who’s making the decisions – us or are we driven by things outside us. Slowly I’m unraveling this one, it’s still a part of my life but I find if I’m more aware of how I am moment by moment, somehow there’s grace there in how I decide, I have a space to choose for myself, rather than be over-whelmed by all that life is throwing at me.
I love the Donkey Kong analogy Otto. You write ‘It’s not complicated, it’s not voodoo, it’s not trickery, magic or space-agey, it’s not weird, hippy or left wing. It is just a simple choice. Do you want to be making the choices, or do you want the choices made for you?’
I totally agree, it is just that !
I love this Otto. Beautifully,clearly and playfully expressed. A very timely reminder. Thank you.
Love it Otto, yes off the first level and having to restart several times, several times an hour on some days!!!! This sums it all up thank you for the simplicity of what we are able to make super complicated with the zillions of ideals and beliefs that you briefly describe — I know there are loads more!!! It is so good to even just know you are on the first level at least that is a start.
Revolutionary Otto!! I love it and it’s lovely to be reminded that our every single choice is so important, and either comes from us or something else.
Otto, Love your question ‘do you want to be making the choices, or do you want to have the choices made for you?’ So profound yet simple. And so many of us are now off that first level of Donkey Kong thanks to Universal Medicine and the simple, practical teachings of Serge Benhayon.
Awesome Otto, gosh I can relate to Donkey Kong and those levels! And in addition similar to you, received my own and rather ‘grown up’ question around 4/5 years whilst looking up at the sky “Oh, I’m here again; what’s it all about”. I love the simplicity of your words for they capture and untangle so well the complication that we are in from having signed up to the “zillions” of ideals and beliefs. Thanks for this reminder and important moment of daily review which can afford us an opportunity to uncover what it (life) is really all about – simply making the choices to just be ourselves and in doing so inspiring another also to be that (like UniMed).
Thanks Otto – love how you express so simply and clearly what it’s all about!
Love this article. Love the simplicity and directness of the writing. So on the money. Thanks Otto.
Thanks Otto for sharing this. You write simply, clearly and beautifully that guides the reader straight to the point. Awesome.
“Is this it?” has been one of those questions that has followed me around for most of my life, like a cartoon speech bubble, just above my head. I had another ‘bubble’ (on the other side ;)) that run almost parallel to this one which was:” And then what?”
We get born, we grow, we go to school, we get a job. And then what? We marry, have family, children….and then what? We grow old, we die, and then what? Is that it? I could almost play squash with those two – I throw one at the wall and the other one comes back. And the cycle continued until I broke it. Breaking the many illusions, ideals and beliefs accompanied by those two constant followers (questions) have not been as easy as breaking a little dandelion chain but it’s been worth it.
Never played Donkey Kong but all too familiar with the feeling of wanting to get to the ‘next level’. What if there are no levels? What if like Beckett’s character Vladimir we come to realise that although there is a notional evidence of linear progression, that basically we are living the same day over and over? Groundhog day?
Thanks Otto, loved it!!
Love it, love it, love it. Beautiful analogy. Thank you Otto!
Thanks so much Otto , I love how straight and real this is – I have been and still am at times run by that “list ” too . Its a list that would be running most of us from when we are young- but as you say its as simple as stopping and looking at our choices as to whether they are from who we are or from those ideals of how we’ should be’ . That has been the constant underlying presentations of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine – no ” voodoo” just simply bringing it back to us and those choices we make.
I love the simplicity you have presented here, Otto. To check in to oneself and ask ‘Am I making these choices, or are they being made for me?’ BRILLIANT!
Otto, I love your post! Thanks for putting it all so simply… “It’s just a simple choice” is a line I also wrote recently (gotta love that). Absolutely resonate with your words, and was there with Donkey Kong myself. I can remember the enormous ‘effort’ that went into stepping up the levels, competing with my brother… How about we step out of the game altogether? Love Victoria.
Great point Victoria
You have nailed it! I love the simplicity of this piece and the Donkey Kong reference is so relevant to my generation. I also thought along those lines, but to put it that way is so clear… “it’s like we are all stuck on the first level of Donkey Kong.”
What I love most is that you have highlighted the fact that it all boils down to CHOICES… “Do you want to be making the choices, or do you want to have the choices made for you?” Simple.
Otto, I love the way you have written about this and very clearly nominate the complexity that keeps us on the wheel, the daily round without reprieve. You just resolve complexity into simplicity – the simplicity we all long for while still partly caught in the spider’s web. As you say, it’s just simple choice. Hamlet’s question becomes do we make the choices or allow them to be made for us? I can so relate to all you documented you felt as teenager and even later. It all seemed a kind of madness but we all joined in. Thank heavens for Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine and all who choose to live love.
Otto, this is a really great analogy (as a former Donkey Kong player stuck on Level 1), and thank you for the super – simple explanation. It gave me a moment to check in with my own choices today. I definitely had the same feelings growing up of wondering how the whole messed up world could not possibly be the best we could do as a so-called “advanced” race of beings.
I really relate to this Otto. I remember Donkey Kong and I also remember that feeling of “Is this it?” like you Otto not in a dpressed way but just a feeling that there must be more to it all. I now know that there is so much more.
Brilliant. Its amazing how in keeping it very simple, making simple choices that are yours alone, we get past the first level of Donkey Kong. Whereas previously we thought and made a choice to try really hard, practice, work at it etc and never got off the first level.
And it is truly as simple as that. Thanks for keeping it so real Otto.
I really love your link between donkey kong and life, I also felt this way as a child, I was at my teenage sons music/drama presentation last night and it is extremely obvious to me that most, if not all teens, are still feeling this way, Thanks to you, Serge and countless others these teens can view a new way.