We’re all playing the long game, but there’s no winning it. Death distracts us with all the shiny promises of life, and we willingly let ourselves be distracted. We voluntarily turn a blind eye and deaf ear to the end we cannot escape.
But why does death even bother toying with us? It doesn’t need to distract us. It will win, whether or not we’re paying attention, whether or not we struggle against it. It always wins. So why play a game?
Because death is a bored child god, and has no equal, and so has no goals.
If life is futile, why live at all? Because we can achieve goals that span lifetimes. That’s how we cheat death – by achieving selfless goals that bridge past, present, and future lives. Feats of science and art and love and selflessness that become beacons for future generations, stamped with our names.
But it’s a small and hollow win – Death let’s us have the group win because we eventually, individually, lose. And there’s no escaping that.