Magic: The Gathering Drive to Work Podcast - #718: Green-White

Episode Date: February 28, 2020

This is part five in my ten-part series on two-color philosophies. In this podcast, I talk about green-white.

I'm pulling in my driveway. We all know what that means. It's time for the drive to work. Okay, so today is another in my two-color philosophy series. So far I've done white-blue, blue-black, black-red, and red-green, which means today I'm up to green-white, the final of the allied color combinations. I will then, of course, get to the enemy color. Okay, so, as I always begin, let me quickly run through each of the colors. enemy color. Okay, so, as I always begin, let me quickly run through each of the colors. So, green. Green believes that the world is great the way it is. And so, green believes in growth through acceptance. Now, green wants things to evolve naturally the way they're

supposed to. And the way to do that, the way to have the world be the way the world needs to be, is recognizing the world is just fine the way it is and not messing with it. Accepting that you play a role, that the world has a plan and you are part of that plan and understanding how you connect and accepting your role, you know,

and through that, you will grow as a person. That is what Green believes. White wants peace. Peace through structure. White believes that everybody can be taken care of. That there are enough resources that anybody and everybody

if we prioritize the needs of the all rather than the needs of the individual if we use all our resources and make every decision that maximizes the whole of the people we have enough for everybody to be happy. use all our resources and to make every decision that maximizes the whole of the people, we have enough for everybody to be happy.

And really, white is like the way to get peace, the way to true happiness is everybody having what they need. So there's no need for conflict. There's no need, you know, that white just wants a world where everybody can be happy and everybody can live in peace together. How do you get there? The structure part. Well, people have a lot of impulses and things that, you know, whether they're selfish impulses or just emotional impulses,

people have things that drive them to do things that aren't in the interest of the group. And in order to sort of make sure that people do what's in the interest of the group, because people might not of their own volition always do that, white believes in creating rules. It makes both civil rules, which it calls laws, and it makes moral rules, which it calls religion, and said, look, there's a right and wrong way to be. And if you do the right thing, good things will happen to you. Do the bad thing, you get punished. And so white very much uses a structure to try to protect the needs of the group as a whole. Okay, so this is an allied color. So the trick of the allied colors is to look at their shared enemy to understand what they have in common. Okay, well, white and green has a shared enemy of black. Well, what is black

about? Black is about me, me, me. Black is like, I want to make sure that I have whatever I need. Black wants power, and it gets power through opportunity. And black's whole thing is, look, whatever I can do to get the power, and the advantage I have over others is other people will put boundaries in their way. They won't do something because of whatever reasons they invent. But I will take every opportunity to do what I need to do. I will be as ruthless as I need to be, you know, and that I will, whatever steps need to be taken to make sure that I get the things I need, that I'm able to have the power to control my own destiny, black will do that.

So black is all about selfishness. Well, white and green, the enemies of black, are all about community. White obviously is very much about the idea of the good of the group. Green is about the idea that I am part of a larger interconnected system, the web of life. And green very much believes that each individual has to accept its role. When you, Black, for example, has this whole attitude of, I can just kill whatever I want to kill. If I want to kill something, I'll kill it. If it's in my way, I'll get rid of it.

But Green is like, no, no, no. Each thing has a role. And that if you, for example, let's say you hunt and kill some animal, you might throw the entire balance off. Maybe the animals that they're supposed to be the hunters to grow out of proportion. You offset the balance of the system. The system is set up for a reason. Don't mess with the system. Respect the system. So both white and green understand the importance of community and the importance of looking at the bigger picture. Like I said, every decision White makes very much is,

okay, what can I do that's not necessarily good for me, the individual, but is good for the group as a whole? Green, likewise, is making decisions saying, hey, I am part of this interconnected community. I am part of this web of life. What is my role? And green very much, part of accepting, is not just a matter of accepting things the way they are, but understanding what your role is

and fulfilling that role, being that thing. And so green is a protector of the natural system. And the natural system is very interconnective and has a strong element of community to it. So obviously in white and green get together, the cornerstone of what white and green sort of agree upon is this idea of the good of the group, the good of the community, the importance, the important role. the group, the good of the community, the importance, the important role. I think white, I mean, each of them approaches it slightly differently. White's good of the group is more about its end goal is making sure everybody has what they need and are happy and are at peace. Where green, green is not as peaceful, I mean, green has a peaceful side. I mean, if you look at green, green really goes

from the feral side to the serene side. When I talked about green-red, I said that the feral side is a little more on the red side. You know, the instinctual, you know, do what I need to do in the moment is very much on the red side. There's a serene part of green. There's a part, you know, nature, yes, nature has a wild side, but it also has a very calm side, you know, that if you think of meditation, or you think of the idea of, you know, going out into nature and absorbing nature and becoming part of nature, and that white is a little bit more of embracing that. And nature not only does have a wild and serene side, but it has kind of a orderly and a chaotic side. Obviously, the red ties a little bit more into the chaotic side.

White ties more into the orderly side. I mean, green has an orderly side. Like, green does believe that there is a structure to things. And that structure, like, if you look at the natural structure, it is very elegant in the way it's designed. And the, you know, white believes in a more manufactured structure. White believes like, you know,

people make the structure. Although I will say that when white looks at something like religion, white, I mean, laws are, okay, I'm gonna make laws to protect people and tell you what you can or can't do. Religion is white embracing something that it inherently believes exists, which is this concept of right and wrong.

You know, morality. Like, white is big on morality, and that one of the reasons that you should do good is there's an inherent sense in the world that good is important, that good needs to be valued. And so I think if you look a lot on the religious side of white, it leans into the spiritual side of green. That both of them sort of had this idea that there's a higher calling.

There's a bigger picture, you know. Some unforeseen force has set things into motion. And, you know, on each side, they want to, you know, they want to respect the idea that part of being white is realizing the importance of morality and that part of being good is an inherent, you know, sort of the idea that morality exists and part of being green is this idea of accepting that you have a destiny, you know, that you were born to be something. And so white and green very much, I think faith lies in white and green. This idea that there are things that you believe in that

you can't necessarily touch, you know. Faith is the idea that I have a belief in something that can't be proved. And I think white and green, each in their own way, like I said, white's leaning more toward morality and religion, green's leaning more toward spirituality and sort of the, you know, the whole interconnectedness of life. But each really look and see that there is something bigger than themselves and that they have a role and an importance to respect that, understand that, and see their role in it. That's another big thing when white and green get together

is this idea that you have a responsibility beyond yourself. That you have a responsibility that what you need to do and how you need to live your life is not solely dependent on what you need. I mean, if you go look at black, red, that starts getting very self-centered in the nature. But white and green are very much about, hey, yes, I'm an individual, but I live in a community. I'm part of a larger ecosystem.

I need to understand that ecosystem. And I need to make choices that benefit that ecosystem. Now, part of that is white and green, because they care about others, are very much about interacting with others, being with others. That they are the two colors that believe in the group and believe in allowing the group to have some say. You know, when white and green get together,

you tend to get more collectives. Like, for example, Selesny is the Ravnikan version of this, where, you know, very much, it's not anyone in the group making the decision, but the group as a whole making the decision. And this idea of you being a participant in a larger structure. Okay, so green and white, love community, very much part of a bigger picture, and very much, it's important to understand your role and live such that you're enhancing that role. Okay, well, how do the colors differ?

Okay, that's where their similarities lie. How do they differ? Okay, well, the trick with allied colors is each one of them has an ally that is an enemy of the other color's other ally. Okay, so green's other ally is red. White's other ally is blue. Okay, so what is the blue-red conflict? Well, it's about emotion versus intellect. It's about thought versus action. It's about feeling

versus thinking. That blue very much believes that the key to life, you know, blue looks for perfection. Perfection through knowledge. And Blue says, okay, I want to be, I believe it's in Tabula Rasa, I want to be the best me that I can be. How do I do that? By carefully learning everything I can, you know, through education, through experience, through training, through acquiring the right tools. And so Blue is like, I want to be very careful. I want to acquiring the right tools. And so blue is like, I want to be very careful.

I want to make the right decisions. And that means I have to be slow and methodical. I have to be careful because if I do something impulsively or do something without thinking, I might miss the opportunity. Like maybe there's a person I need to meet and get trained by. But if I have a bad first interaction with them and they don't want anything to do with me, then I'm losing the opportunity to train with them.

So blue is very much about be careful, think. That making the right decisions is about examining and carefully, intellectually, thinking through everything before you make a decision so that you're making sure you're making the right decision. Okay, red. Red is all about following your heart, living your truth, being who you are meant to be,

who internally you're hearing from your own insides. It's following the impulses. Because red believes red is freedom through action. Red believes that if each person can be true to who they are and listen to their own inner voice and act on that, we'll have a world where everybody is being their true self and being happy and being excited.

Red really wants you to embrace who you are, to look within and listen to your own inner voice. Part of that is respecting your own emotions. If you feel happy, laugh. If you feel sad, laugh. If you feel sad, cry. If you feel mad, get in a fight. You know, whatever you're feeling, act on those feelings. Live in those feelings. And like I said, red is about action.

Red is not about sitting there thinking. Red is about doing, being, you know. And so red very much embraces the idea that you want to act. And red very much believes in its emotions. You're doing what your internal body is telling you. Those are your emotions. So red is like, listen to your emotions. Act on your emotions.

Act quickly. In fact, you know, act. Act on your emotions. Blue is all about think. Use your intellect and think to make the right decisions. Well, those butt head to head, right? So when you get to green and white, green definitely has a wild side,

has an instinctual side. Green definitely believes, just like it believes that there's a higher, you know, force at hand, it also believes internally that you are being guided, that it believes that the instincts you have, you know, you are part, you are sort of born already with the things you need to be.

And part of living your life is understanding what you're meant to be and living that. So green definitely embraces more of the red side of, you know, look, I got to listen to my inner voice and I got to act on it. You know, if I, if my instinct says to run away, I better run away. It says to attack, I better attack, you know, that green definitely has this instinctual feral side to it. That is very much about acting in the moment and doing, you know, Green doesn't believe, well, Green does believe in the larger order of things and it does not shy away from this idea. Like, Green believes that there is a normal way and instinctually it should come to you. It's not that you have to work super hard. You have to kind of listen to yourself. And Green does look internally to understand

what it needs to be doing. It relies on instinct. Part of being part of the system is that there's things put within you to help you understand that. White leads much more toward blue. White is like, look, I need to make sure that everybody's safe. I want peace. But in order to do that, I have to be careful. I have to think things through, I have to be careful. I have to think

things through. I have to plan ahead. Humans left to their own devices will do crazy, impulsive, selfish things. Okay. So part of what white needs to do is white believes in this idea that yes, I have to, part of structure, part of building things correctly is thinking things through in that structure. That you're not, It's not as if structure just magically comes to you. It's not as if, like, the funny thing is when you talk about sort of community, green believes in an organic structure. Green believes in something that's naturally already there, where white believes you're making a lot of the structure. I mean, yes, there's morality

and things to keep in mind of, but a lot of the structure you know white i mean yes there's morality and things to keep in mind of but a lot of white's rules like no one's going to say you can't kill unless you make a rule that says well if you kill them i'll put you in jail you're like there's a punishment for killing it's not okay to kill you know um while morality is important morality is not i mean morality might keep some people in line but it won't keep everybody in line. And so white very much understands and appreciates the need of the intellectual, of the thought, of thinking things through. Because a lot of what white needs to do is plan ahead. So this is another sort of difference between green and white is

I mean, green and white both have an appreciation for the past. They're definitely two colors that are most about tradition. So there's an element of the past there. But green believes that the structure is something that is inherently there that you have to discover. White believes that the structure is something you need to create. So white, sort of like, if you see life as sort of tabula rasa, that I am born into a world,

and that world doesn't inherently have rules inherent. I've got to make those rules. That if I want to create a society, if I want to create a civilization, I need to figure out how to do that. And so, on some level, what Blue is trying to do on a personal level of, I mean, Blue also does believe in perfecting society. Part of where Blue and White, I talked about, get together is that White wants to make a better society to

protect it, and Blue wants to make a better society to protect it, and blue wants to make a better society to protect it. And that's where blue and white sort of overlap. So, white, when you get into this sort of intellect versus emotion, white is clearly on the side of intellect, and blue is clearly on the side of emotion. Now, another thing to look at is, let's look a little bit at the white-red conflict and the green-blue conflict.

White believes that the biggest danger to people, the reason that people, or one of the reasons that people really get in trouble or hurt the group is that they are acting on their emotions, their impulses. And white sees emotions as being very dangerous because emotions are very selfish, White believes. That, you know, if you're happy, laugh. If you're mad, get in a fight. Whoa, whoa, whoa, get in a fight. Just because you're feeling one way, you're going to harm somebody else?

Like, that's not okay. Like, Red's all about, hey, feel your feelings and let them out. And, you know, if people fight once in a while, okay, whatever, you know, you get a punch thrown to you. But everyone's living how they feel. White's like, ah, that leads to chaos. If every time I feel like harming another, I harm another, that's not a safe society. That's chaos.

And so white really looks at emotions and says, oh, that is dangerous. Emotions lead to a dangerous place. Meanwhile, look at the green-blue conflict. So green is all about nature. Blue is about nurture. Blue believes you can become whatever you want to become. Green is like you were born into what you are.

Blue is like I need to discover what I can change into. And green is like, I need to discover what I am and not change. So blue is very much about change. And green is about sort of being things the way they are. And a big part about that and the difference between green and blue is blue values knowledge where green values wisdom. Blue is all about, I want to know everything because if I know everything, that will allow me to make the most key decisions.

But green is like, it's not knowing things that matters. It's understanding the role things have. You know, wisdom is not about being aware of details as much as being aware of how things matter. Blue wants to know as many different things as it can. Green's like, I only need to know what I need to know, but the things that I need to know, I want to understand context to them. And that part of Green's admiration of the past, Green very much is looking to maintain the past,

and Blue is looking to change the future. That's another big conflict between Green and Blue. And so Green does not... Intellect is not important to Green as much as instinct and looking within and having a general sense of what things are. And so green kind of poo-poos intellect. You know, green believes that intellect gets you in bad places. That if the role of life is you accepting and understanding where you're at, if that's the role of life, right?

I need to recognize what role I play and then embrace that role. Intellect's not helping with that. You know, that the quest for knowledge and the quest for other things is what can lead you astray. You know, if you, what green wants is look within, look around, you around, find your place, find how you connect, and then just embrace that thing. Don't seek other things. Learning about other things just might drive you down the wrong path.

It might lead you away from you understanding your own internal journey. So green, not so much about intellect. White, not so much about emotion. So that is the biggest difference between green and white is while they definitely overlap and they have a big share of, while they do agree on the community and the importance of the community, why is very different between them. And that why leads you to different places. And it's important to understand those different places.

Okay. So fundamentally, when you get to white and green, what is it they care about? What is their end goal? And if you look at them, like I said, one of the things that's nice is, okay, take the end goal of each color. So white's end goal is peace. Green's end goal is growth. Okay, so where do those overlap? Well, the idea is there's a state you can reach

where things are living in harmony. This is sort of Green-White's, you know, Green-White is trying to find harmony. What Green-White wants to do is get to a state where everything understands its role and is living in its role and because of that, there is harmony in the sense that there's peace, you know, that everybody is happy and protected. But also there's a sense of belonging and a sense of understanding that another part of harmony is an acceptance, right? And so harmony is sort of the meeting of peace and acceptance.

And so that is what green is after. peace and acceptance. And so that is what green is after. You know, I think when you look at green-white as a philosophy, green-white is like there's an end state that you can reach. But that end state is not an end state that you alone, you know, your journey is not a solo journey. Your journey is not just you finding what you need.

You know, yes, there's an individual part of it. I mean, you have to understand your role in the world. And, you know, on the white side of things, you have to understand what you can do that best benefits the group. Like white is all about me understanding what skills and tools I have that I can then use to best help the group. Part of white's end goal is the idea that each person what skills and tools I have that I can then use to best help the group. Part of White's end goal is the idea that each person comes to understand what they can do that, you know, what actions can I take that will be best for the group? That's the action I'm supposed to take.

I'm supposed to be figuring out what I can do and how that impacts and helps the group. And then I'm supposed to do those things. And I'm supposed to recognize that by doing those things, I am helping. I am leading us toward the right state. I'm getting us toward peace. I'm getting us toward harmony. green is, I mean, both white and green believe that if you are able to understand your role,

able to understand the big picture, able to see how you connect in that big picture, that two things will happen. One is you'll be optimizing your impact on the world. That's a big thing for white and green. That I'm making choices and I'm doing things that leads to the community being the best that the community can be. On the white side, I'm making choices and I'm taking actions

that is helping white achieve its peace. And on the green side, I am accepting and filling my role. I'm being part of the great cycle of life. And I'm allowing the system to grow unfettered, to grow, to naturally evolve and grow. And that's the end goal for white and green is, there's this sort of attainment, like white and green believe that there's a perfect kind of end state where I find

my position, my place, and that once I find it and act on it and commit on it and I connect with those around me and interact with those around me, that there is a state of bliss that I can reach. That there is, that green and white really believes that the ultimate way to be happy, the ultimate sort of goal of life is reaching that state, is finding that state. And part of it is understanding that state exists, understanding the importance of that. Now, as I said before, another important thing about white and green is recognizing that there's a larger force at hand.

Now, like I said, white and green will quibble a little bit about what the larger force is, but both of them sort of recognize that there is something there, bigger than us, something, we enter this world with a world that was there. And that, while definitely there's means and things you do to sort of become part of that world, the ultimate goal,

the white and green's ultimate goal is the recognition of this larger system and embracing of a larger system and really turning your heart to wanting to be the best that you can be in a way that makes everybody else be the best that they can be. You know, there's a sense that sort of the pinnacle of white-green,

that if everybody is being their true self, if everybody is fulfilling their destiny, if everybody's being the thing they need to be, that there is a utopia. I mean, that's kind of green-white sort of ultimate end goal also, reaching harmony, but also creating a society that is a utopia, where everybody is working in the benefit of everybody else. Where there's no crime and there's no violence, you know. Like I said, I guess Green does believe that there is some call within some natural stuff.

Green does believe in predators and prey. But there's no, I guess, unnecessarily violence from Green's perspective. But anyway, there is the idea of reaching utopia. That is what white and green, of finding harmony and reaching utopia. How does it do that? What are the means it does to do that? Well, I think white and green, more so than any other color, believes that one of your greatest tools is others. Is that you're not alone.

And that one of the things that both white and green use very effectively you can see that in the game itself. I mean, they're the two colors that most rely on creatures. They're the two creature colors. And that one of your greatest strengths of, if you're a group, one of your greatest strengths is your interconnectivity. You know what I'm saying? The idea is that a group is stronger than the individuals. That the sum is stronger than the whole is stronger than the sum of its parts.

That each individual being the best they can be in conjunction with others, you know, that is the most powerful possibility. A group that is all working together, all the individuals. Like one of the things, for example, that black hates about white is, you know, black is all about selfishness, right?

Well, when you run up against a group that's selfless, like, there are tools at black's disposal that black can't use. Like, if I want to lure people away and I want to play with their base instincts, they need base instincts. They need to be selfish to a certain extent. And if people are truly unselfish,

that makes it a lot harder for black because black, you know, black, a lot of black strategies are based upon the concept that people are inherently selfish. And so people act not selfish. It really causes problems for black. So the the biggest means for green and white to accomplish its thing is the reliance on the group, is the use of the group as a tool. And the one thing you'll notice when white and green get together is

they tend to lead toward groups that want to bond and have lots of people. You know, that they... Like, for example, it's no mistake that of all the guilds, the guild that's the largest in number, that has the most people, is Selesnya. And the reason for that is, that's the thing they value.

They value people. One of the nice things about joining Green-White is Green-White is like, we're looking out for you. We're going to make decisions that help you. We're going to, you know, not give in. They're making decisions to help everybody. But if you really, like the dream that Green-White gives you of the idea of living in harmony, of living in peace, of accepting the growth of nature. And then, you know, through this harmony, reaching utopia.

nature and then, you know, through this harmony, reaching utopia. And not just utopia by yourself, not just a selfish utopia, but a utopia where you and all the others you're living with are living in harmony. You know, that is a pretty attractive thing. And so that is the greatest strength of green and white, is the strength of the group, the strength of numbers, of volume, of people. strength of numbers, of volume, of people. And also, the other big thing that green and white uses is faith, is trying to get people to believe in something larger.

You know, green and white also have a lot of tools of serenity. Um, like green, white is definitely the color that says, I get that you have internal struggles. I will help you find, find peace within yourself. Um, that one of the things that green and white can do is say, like, one of the things that most people struggle with is how do I belong? What is my role? What am I doing? You know, I, I, I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing. And green-white comes with this very strong message, which is, hey, you're part of the bigger system. You're part of the group.

Join us. We will find what is best for you and help you and tell you what that is and let you be the best you. But green and white very much is the group will decide. You join us. And one of the nice things about becoming part of the group is you no longer have to make decisions because the group gets to make decisions. And, you know, one of the hardness of life is making decisions is hard. You know, you can make the wrong decision. And this idea that if I make the wrong decision my life might suck because I'm not making the right decisions will come to the group the group's going to make decisions for the group and you know you no longer

have to be alone like that's another big thing that green light has to offer is you're never alone because of the importance of the group you know you are never I mean black is all about sort of being alone and thriving and alone and you know, you are never, I mean, black is all about sort of being alone and thriving and alone and, you know, like black really embellishes sort of functioning unto itself. But green and white are like, look, when you are with us, you are with others. You are never alone. You are always, you get to be part of the group. You get to be accepted. You know what I'm saying? The green white very much has this idea of, you know, one of the great problems that people have sometimes is a sense

of loneliness and a sense of despair and they're not sure what to do. And green and white says, hey, come with us, we'll tell you what to do. You know, you get to be part of the group and as part of the group, you will figure out, like, you're not making decisions by yourself, so, you know, you have all these people helping you. And that's a big part of sort of the attractiveness of green and white is the idea of the warmth of the group, the warmth of the familiarity, the socialness of it,

and the lack of having to make all your own decisions unto yourself. While there's a lot of importance of individuality, and other callers care about that, there's a lot of stress that comes with that. There's a lot of stress of having to make the right decision all on your own. And green and white is like, you know what? You don't need to do that. We will help you. Okay, so what do green and white, what do they despise? I think the thing that green... Obviously their shared enemy is black.

I think the thing that disturbs white green the most is watching when others are harming the potential of everybody else. The idea of watching one person make decisions that is causing harm to other people is really hard. When you're about the group, when you're trying to reach harmony

and get utopia, and there are people that are just doing selfish things that are helping themselves at the cost of the good of everybody else, oh, that drives white-green mad. The idea that the reason that the group might suffer is the selfishness of the individual, that is, there's just not much more upsetting to that than white-green. And the other thing, by the way, is be aware that selfishness,

there is overt selfishness, right? There is, I'm just doing what's right for me. And a lot of times we think of black, we think of the overt stuff, right? We think of... I think black is the cleanest example of selfishness when we talk about what white and green don't like. And that's just the idea of, I'm just making decisions that aren't taking the group into mind at all, and the ones that I guess they mind most are hurting the group. There are other things that happen that, you know,

like sort of a passive sort of element where it's not that I'm actively trying to harm the group necessarily, but I don't listen to the group or I, you know, when, like, for example, I'll give an example for each of them. Like, for green, the idea of littering. You know what I'm saying? It's not that littering is this horribly selfish act,

but it very much is sort of like this, why am I polluting thing? You know what I'm saying? It's just me not caring about nature, right? Pollution is me going, I don't value the importance of nature. And like I said, it's a more passive thing, but that is upsetting. Likewise, white looks sort of at, at meanness, at cruelty and says, what, you know, why? I mean, maybe it makes you feel better. Like why, what's the point of the cruelty? Like, what are you getting? Like, it's just a disregard of the importance of the morality

and understanding the importance of people. And so, like, really one of the things there is when you talk about what's negative for white and green, it's very much about people not taking the time to understand the ramifications of what they do. Some of it might be making in-the-moment decisions, but some of it also might be, I'm just making small, tiny decisions that show that I don't respect... I'm not even thinking about the group. I'm not even thinking about the larger context

of what I'm doing. And so, obviously, green and white is most upset by the most direct sort of selfishness, but there's a lot of indirect stuff. There's a lot of, it's not so much that I'm trying to not think about it. I'm just not. And that upsets White Green. Okay, so now we get to strengths and weaknesses. What is Green White's greatest strength? What is his greatest weakness? So his greatest strength is

the power of numbers. That if I can convince a whole bunch of people to all act together in a unified way, if we have a shared purpose, that's a hard thing to fight. Like I said, one of the things that Black really has problems with is the idea of people that will do things against their own best interests. Black is like, how do I deal with that? How do you, like, that is so irrational to black.

Black doesn't even know how to deal with it. It's like, I get how, I understand motivation if you're looking out for yourself. But when you're going to put yourself in harm's way to help somebody else? What is that? And the group acting as a group with a unified vision and purpose is strong. It is powerful. It really gives it the ability to sort of make a very strong it's just power.

It really gives something that it makes it difficult to deal with. The weakness of green and white is, I think when you look at selfishness, it's easy to look at the negative part of selfishness, right? That I'm doing things with disregard to the group. But the other thing about selfishness, there's a good side. I mean, as we talk about mono black, like it's not caring about yourself is not necessarily a bad thing. And that one of the problems that green white has is if you're making every decision for the good of the group, sometimes you're making decisions that are bad for you. You're doing things that are harming you.

And I understand that if you buy into the good of the group, you're like, okay, I understand that maybe I will suffer, but, you know, as a net, the group will gain, and I'm willing to suffer because I want the group to gain as a whole. But, you know, there is a lot of harm that comes. You know, like one of the negatives of green-white is because it's caring about the group and not the individual, it lets individuals suffer in a way that other colors would not let the individual suffer.

That green-white becomes invisible sometimes to kind of individual pain. It's like it understands group pain, but it doesn't understand individual pain. It's like it understands group pain, but it doesn't understand individual pain. Because its sort of attitude is buck it up. Like, oh, you're suffering. Like, you're doing something for the good of the group, but it's hurting you individually. Well, that's the role.

Like, buck up. That's the role. That's what you're supposed to do. And so green and white does not understand individual pain. And it is a little bit over-reliant on the group. Like, one of the problems in general with white-green, like, just strategically, like in magic, is it's going to overwhelm the creatures.

It's going to overrun you. But when you somehow deal with the creatures, white-green's in trouble. Like, it's over-reliant on its creatures. I mean, green, as a monocolor, does this more so. But both white and green, to a certain extent, are very reliant on its creatures. I mean, green as a monocolor does this more so, but both white and green to a certain extent are very reliant on their creatures, and when you're able to take away its creatures, like when you take away its group, green and white have no purpose.

That it is devastating to lose the group for green and white, and so there is a vulnerability there. And like I say, as I love to say, you know, your greatest weakness is your greatest strength pushed too far. Well, Green's greatest strength is the strength of the group and the ability to do something that just can't be broken down. There's no one point of weakness.

That one of the reasons that a group is so strong is that, well, you can stop any one piece of it, but you've got to stop all of it to stop it. And, you know, like, for example, take black. Black can kill individual creatures, but if every single thing is moving toward the same goal, black might not be able to kill everything, you know. And what black relies upon is by killing some,

the others out of self-motivation then run away. Like black's idea is a group attacks me. Well, I kill some of the group and then others see, oh my gosh, uh-oh, and they flee. But if the group is like all banded together and like we're doing what's good for the group and some die, I'm like, well, they died for the good of the group. You know, that doesn't work to black's advantage. That's where the strength lies. The weakness is that there is no self-identity, that there's no, you know, that one of the

things, while there are a lot of strengths of everybody thinking the same way and working together, one of the things that also can be very valuable is that being an individual and prioritizing your own needs often leads you down different paths. And those paths could come, like, for example, blue is all for the improvement of society because it believes in, it wants perfection. It wants perfection not just for itself but for the group as a whole. But because blue has a lot more individual qualities to it,

it will hunt out and search different things. One of the advantages of having a very robust system is that you're able to experience more things and learn more things and learn quicker. Like one of the problems with sort of the groupthink is, because you all think the same way, it is a lot harder to change you. You know, like, once you get the group all doing one thing, it's hard to move the group. It's hard to make the group act differently.

It's hard to get the group to realize that they've made a mistake, or shift their opinion. Because you don't have to change one person's opinion, you have to change everybody their opinion. Because you don't have to change one person's opinion, you have to change everybody's opinion. And so where the hive mind sort of quality can be very good in some situations, it's harmful in others. That green-white, for example,

one of the reasons that green-white a little more embraces the past than the future is embracing the future really relies on a little more individuality of people exploring different things. And that green is much more comfortable saying, this is the way things have been. We understand that.

We get tradition. We get ritual. Part of one of the tools that keeps groups together is this use of shared behavior. Green and white are very much about traditions is this use of shared behavior, right? Green and white are very much about traditions and, you know, doing things the way they've been done. Because through that, through repetition, comes bonding, comes, you know,

it's easier to get everybody on the same page. But the flip side of that is if you always do things the same way, if you always are, if you have that group think, you are very vulnerable. I mean, you are inflexible and you are much more vulnerable to, you know, when new problems come your way. If those don't easily adapt to the structure you have, it's hard. It's not easy to change the group. And so that is probably white-green's biggest weakness is, while it has strength through the group, it also has a kind of weakness through the group.

It's not as adaptable. It's not as flexible. And if you can't adapt, new problems become quite an issue. When white-green is facing something it understands, it's great. When it faces something it doesn it understands, it's great. When it faces something it doesn't understand, it has problems. Okay, how are we doing on time here? Okay, so I'm almost to work. So let me just wrap this up. And so for each one of these, I'm kind of talking about the general sense of philosophy of the colors, right? What is the philosophy?

And I think green and white very much have this idea of the importance of faith, the importance of seeing how you fit in the bigger picture, the importance of connecting with others and understanding others, and really, really is the philosophy that says, hey, the greatest way to be happy is by finding others like yourself and maximizing how you can do that. And the funny thing is, a lot of this philosophy ties into a lot of religious philosophy, a lot of this philosophy ties into a lot of religious philosophy, a lot of, a lot of like Eastern philosophy.

You know, there's a lot of understand your role in the universe, recognize what it is, recognize the value you provide, and then live it. You know, and if you do that, you will find peace, you'll find tranquility, you'll find harmony, you know, you'll be at one with the world. And that, you know, I think the idea of green and white from a philosophical standpoint is, you know, the key to you being happy is you understanding the role you play in the larger world. And that larger world is not of your own making. You know what I'm saying? That what you can do is you can contribute, but you unto yourself, you are not, you by yourself will not solve all the problems.

You will only solve the problems if you work with others to help solve them. And so the importance of that is recognizing the value of the group and the value of the community. And find your group. Find your community. Be part of that group. Be part of that community. You know, make decisions that aren't selfish decisions. Make decisions that aren't motivated by your own needs, but motivated by larger needs. And White Green believes that if you live your life like that, if you live your life living not just for yourself, but for others, that you will find a kind of happiness that you can't find elsewhere.

That's the Green White philosophy. I mean, one of the cool things, by the way, that I really enjoy about the series is I'm not, and none of these are any philosophy right or wrong. Each one of these is a philosophy philosophy that when you get colors together, then the neat thing about the color pie is that they blend together and every color pair has a philosophy. They believe in something. There's a way to live your life. You know what I'm saying? The thing I enjoy on these podcasts is it's fun to look and say what is the strength of this philosophy? What is the weakness of this philosophy?

Like, and the thing to me that's kind of awesome about the color pie is there's no one philosophy that's that is right or wrong. There might be a philosophy that you personally, or speaks to you, the person, individually. And that's why it's fun to kind of go through them

and sort of walk and talk to them. But that's a neat thing. That's the cool thing about the color pie especially when you combine colors I mean each monocolor does have a philosophy but I think when you combine them together there's a little more nuance to the philosophies that the monocolor philosophies are a little more

very exacting and that the cool part I find about the two color philosophies is that there's a little more nuance to them. There's a little more that when you find the intersection between two different things, there's a lot of coolness there. So anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed today's podcast. Next time, not in a row, but next time up, obviously, I'll start doing the enemy color podcast. So I'll start with white-black. I will go into order with the first color.

But anyway, I am pulling into work as we speak. So anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed today's podcast, and I'm enjoying doing these philosophy podcasts. I hope you are enjoying listening to them. But anyway, as I'm now here at work, we all know what that means. It means it's the end of my drive to work.

So instead of talking magic, it's time for me to be making magic. I'll see you guys next time.