More than an Algorithm

Alright so I've been trying to think of a way to go about this topic but then a little while ago I just figured I'd stop putting it off and write it. Despite having not seen the source material for this posting for a little while, I think it's safe to say I know it like the back of my hand.

Sword Art Online is an anime series adapted from a Japanese light novel of the same name. The series came out in 2012 and was a huge hit. For the most part, fans only seem to discuss the first twelve episodes, also called the "Aincrad Arc," as the latter half of the season isn't necessarily up to par with the first half. Also, the second season just came out,  but we won't be discussing it as we're merely on the ninth episode (BUT IT IS SO GOOD DUDE THAT CLIFFHANGER AT THE END OF EPISODE 8).

I digress.

The series is based around the life of Kirito, a player in the virtual reality MMORPG (if you don't know what that stands for, Google...but basically it's an online videogame) who suddenly finds himself, as well as 10,000 other people, trapped in the game. The game is called, you guessed it, "Sword Art Online" and they are stuck in the land  called Aincrad. The big rule about the game is not to die--because if you die in the game, you die in real life.

So, that kind of sucks. It's a videogame, after all, the way things work are vastly different than they would be in the real world. The enemies are stronger and there is a need to level up to basically survive, to get the bigger game and the better items.

The whole of SAO, the Aincrad Arc, takes place over the course of two years. Over those two years we come to meet a bunch of people that Kirito connects with, such as Klein, Agil, Silica, Liz, and of course, Asuna. Kirito and Asuna are kinda a thing and it's my favorite romance but again, I digress.

Akihiko Kayiba is the developer of the game and is the one that trapped everyone in it, though nobody really knows where he is. Eventually he reveals himself and he has a showdown with Kirito. In that showdown, he explains that Kirito has managed to defy the system of the game throughout his time. Sure, he is good at videogames, but Kayiba also says that it is the power of human will that makes him so strong. I'll get back to that in just a moment.

At the end of the season, Kirito is in a new game and is facing a new opponent. I won't get into the specifics but I'll give you the big scenario. Despite it being in the ALO arc that people kind of degrade, I think it's one of the best moments I've seen, definitely one the most memorable.

Kirito has been impaled with his own weapon and is watching one of his closest friends getting tortured by the big villain, by Oberon. Oberon has put a spell on the area to increase the gravity by ten, meaning Kirito cannot move, and has also lowered the pain receptors of the game to the point where in the game if Kirito feels pain, his body in real life takes the same mental damage, which could kill him.

So Kirito is down for the count, he's pretty much given up. All of a sudden, we hear a voice, telling him to get up. He looks up and sees Kayiba, back inexplicably. He tells Kirito that if he gives up now then their battle was pointless. The only reason Kirito was able to win was because he had the will-power to break the restraints of the game, to get up and face his opponent.

Out of context, it seems cheesy, but it is so darn cool. And it really sends the message home of what the show was trying to say.

Yes, in game they had super-natural abilities. They had super-strength, super reflexes, all of that. Compared to regular people, they were extraordinary fighters. But, at their core, they were simply players in a virtual game. Or at least, that's what they always told themselves, that's what Kayiba was telling himself. That's why he thought he could win, because he had set up algorithms and equations that would limit the players abilities.

What he didn't account for was what the players were made of. They were made of will-power. To have survived two years in the Death Game is an amazing feat. Day in and day out they fought to clear the game, fighting impossible enemies and forging lasting friendships. As we find out in season 2, that even meant to sacrifice a lot to fight. To live.

This theme isn't necessarily as prevalent as the wall-theme of Attack on Titan but I do believe it is what drives the story. From the first episode where Kirito makes it his mission to beat the game and to survive it to thirteenth episode where it's the final battle of the game, and all of the emotional baggage in between. It's the will to live that makes him fight and it's the will to fight that makes him live.

Of course, as you're probably saying to yourself, it's a game. Hacks and breaks in the game can happen. But no, this was the perfect game. Incorruptible. What's that tell you now?

That power of human will can take us to do extraordinary things. Ever hear the stories of mothers lifting cars? Or what about overcoming our greatest fears, even when staring them in the face? When we have a 100-1 odds of completing something, is it right to just give up?

We aren't enabled to do everything, though. No matter how much we will it, we won't be able to fly on our own, we won't wake up with a million dollars out of nowhere, and we won't be able to breathe in space.

However, what we can do with all of this will-power is discover, is to learn. Maybe someday we will learn how to fly without planes, maybe with enough determination you'll be able to wake up a millionaire. Breathing in space is impossible but maybe we'll make it to Mars. The possibilities are endless.

Everybody always talks about a bar, or standard, being set. One we have to meet. You know who follows by that rule?

People who want to meet it. The people who want to exceed the bar, the ones who want the high score and to finish their day as accomplished as they can are the ones that don't even pay attention to the standard. They shoot as high as they can and as far as they can. They do whatever it takes to be the best, with physical limitations of course.

What can we learn from SAO? We can learn that in our own world there is a system. In today's world, it seems, people will settle for things. You can either get a little of this, but that might be a little hard to get. So, we'll get settle for this, right? It's easier?

In SAO, and in some real-life situations, everything we do has a consequence. Maybe not immediately, but we'll eventually have to own up to our decisions. What I've found to be the one with the most consequences is the road where I settle. Where I merely settled for this, but maybe if I put a little more effort forward, I could have had that.

Human will-power defies that logic. If we believe enough in ourselves and in our own strength, we can do, or at least start to do, anything we set our mind to.

Yet as humans, we're limited. We have just our body. Sure, there is support we get from family and loved ones, but even then those resources are limited. So, how can we do everything if we don't have the infinite resources to do everything?

We do. Maybe not at the click of a button like most people are used to, and maybe it's something we can't even see. But it's something that's been around since the very beginning.

We have the will of God.

The most powerful thing in all the universe, the thing that created it and that rules over literally everything, gives us His power. Are you kidding me? How can you feel down after knowing that you were made in the image of perfection, of the true meaning of ultimate power?

With that kind of power, we have the untapped potential to do anything we set our mind to. Mundane tasks like tests and essays and driving become simple in the grand scheme of having to keep everything in order, right? Thus we're able to go through it.

Just imagine having to create the Earth and all the heavens, with everything on it and them, in just seven days. Did he give up? No, he powered through it, finally resting when his work was done on the seventh day.

And as his creations, as his likeness, we can do that, too. I know it sounds lame and corny, but, when you really think about it, the only thing stopping you from solving your own problems is you. Maybe there are some technical rules, but, really, you're your own worst enemy.

But at the same time, the you that is trying to get the dream fulfilled has the will of God at your side as well. And when you do fulfill your dreams, you realize something:

You're more than an algorithm. You're a musician. A writer. An actor, an engineer, a construction worker, a astronaut. A robot fighting king in space with a mustache! You're in control of your own life, not bound by some rules that you think are placed upon you. When the battle is fought, when we put forth all of our will-power, then victory can be ours.

So yeah, we're capable of great things. Fantastic things, every one of us. Through God, we're capable of amazing things. If we lend ourselves to him, if we combine powers, I can't even imagine what could happen. I do know this, though, that like Kirito, we can inspire everyone around us. The people who don't want to beat the game, the ones who settle, they'll come to realize that there is something more to life than just this. There's that, or that, and those, too!

Even though none of us realize it at first, when we're just starting out, it becomes very relevant when we're standing on top of the mountain that is our life, looking down from the cloud-filled heavens and realize that we made it. We had the will-power and determination, the soul and the heart, to fulfill all of our dreams. We beat the game, and now, we can rest.

Not the destination the journey, not the dog in the fight but fight in the dog, however you want to put it, you've heard it a million times. I'm just here to tell you what I saw out of an anime series. I saw that even though there was a system that put codes on all 10,00 players that there were players that knew, outside of the virtual realm, they had a life to lead. They had to get out, to break free, and live.

When we get up, we prove to ourselves and to everyone else that we have the will-power to do it. What is it? I don't know, that's up to you. But you can do it. Through you and the God who made you, who made everything, you can do it.

Because you're more than an algorithm, you're a human being. You're a life.