Hey, everybody! It's me, Red. You know, from Magic. My buddy Maro, the guy who normally writes these articles, is doing a five-article series called "My Words" where he's letting each of us colors have a whole article to explain our philosophy firsthand. He did this originally on his podcast Drive to Work. White, Blue, and Black have had their say, so today, you get me.

One of the questions you have to ask yourself is, "What's the purpose of my life?" You're only on the earth for a finite amount of time. What should you do with it? Philosophers have been tackling this problem since the earliest days of humanity. Luckily, I have the answer. When you're lying on your deathbed, what's going to matter? Did you live a life that fulfilled you? Did you find love? Did you make good friends? Did you do exciting stuff? Did you accomplish things that people will talk about when you're gone? Basically, did you make the effort to maximize the time you had? That's what matters: living life to its fullest.

How exactly do you do that? Here's the thing: it's actually not that hard. I'll walk you through my two-step process to being fulfilled. First, you have to learn to listen to your own body. Why? Because it knows what you need. For example, when you're hungry, what do you do? You eat. Why? Because your body's telling you that you need energy, and to get that energy, you need to eat food. Likewise, if you're thirsty, your body's telling you you're getting dehydrated. If you're tired, your body's telling you that you need rest.

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In each of these cases, you dutifully listen to your body. You eat food, drink liquid, or go to sleep. So, when your body is lonely or angry or sad, it does the same thing. It lets you know that it needs something from you. Why should you feed a hungry body but not act on a lonely one? Does your body understand the need for food but not companionship? No, your body knows what it needs. You have to learn to listen to it.

It may be easy to understand but not as easy to do. We're often taught to stop listening to our inner voice. When I get to the other colors of Magic, I'll run through the many ways they tell us not to listen or encourage us to ignore it. To truly monitor and understand what your body is telling you can take time, not because the message isn't loud or clear but because you're told to treat it at as something dangerous or something that will lead you astray. But it's not. You're just telling yourself what you need.

This brings us to step two: acting on the message from your body. Inaction is easy. It literally requires you to do nothing. Taking action can be scary, but let me walk you through an example of why it's important. Let's say you're attracted to someone. You vibe with their personality, share their values, and, hey, they look good. You could pine away for years telling yourself that you have something to lose if you tell them how you feel, or, you could just talk to them. Open up, be vulnerable, and float the idea of a relationship.

One of two things will happen. They could say they're interested in you, and then you get to start a relationship with them. Awesome. This is the kind of thing you'll value on your deathbed. Or, they could tell you they're not interested, and then you know. If that happens, you can move on and find someone you like who likes you back. Either way, you're in a much better position than you were before.

Taking action doesn't necessarily mean you'll get the things you want, but you certainly won't get what you want if you don't try. Yes, things can get messy at times. Life is messy, but it's by embracing that messiness and continuing onward that all the good stuff—the things you want to look back at on your deathbed—happens.

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What separates the fulfilled from the unfulfilled is their willingness to act. You know what you need, but too many people are either stopped by fear or by a belief that it's somehow wrong to listen to their own desires. Ignore the other voices. You want to find happiness? Listen to your own voice, then do something about it.

I get 3,000 words to try and convince you of my philosophy, but it's so simple and so straightforward, I'm not sure I even need that many words. Listen to your body and act on it. That's the path to a fulfilled life. Boom!

The biggest thing stopping you from doing that is the world. The world doesn't necessarily prioritize what you need. So, let me spend some time walking through the many things in your way. To do that, I'll talk about my fellow enemy colors.

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We'll begin with the Magic color White. White loves telling everyone else how to live their life. White makes all these rules informing you why you can't do what you want to do. To White, I'm the embodiment of chaos; the source of destruction that will be the end of everything. White sees itself as the bastion of order and all that stands between humanity and doom. So, I'm painted as a villain; as one of the reasons pain and suffering exist.

I'm not about pain or suffering. Okay, if Ned's being a jerk and you want to punch him, fine, punch him. But that's on Ned. How else do you teach Ned to stop being a jerk? Society doesn't fall apart because people are acting on their own happiness. You know what causes suffering? Endless rules; the vast majority of which just exist to keep people from trying to find happiness. That's not order, that's oppression.

Everyone is allowed to have a passion. It's core to feeding your soul. You should care about something with all your heart. It can be a person, an idea, an activity, a hobby, a job; whatever brings you joy. And it doesn't have to be just one thing. Have as many passions as you can find time for.

White labels passion as selfishness. As if looking out for your own singular needs is disrespecting the group. But how do you get a happy society? By allowing everyone to pursue their passions. White sees success as everyone getting what they need. But what about what they want? I could probably find ten basic foods I can subsist on. Is that living? Getting by with the bare minimum to not to starve to death? We have to aim higher than the bare minimum. "It could be worse" is not a motto to live by.

I'll be the first to admit that allowing everyone to act on their impulses will cause conflict at times. Maybe you and someone else both want the same thing, and there's only one of that thing. Okay, one of you gets it and the other doesn't, but then the person who loses out can find a new thing they want and pursue that. Conflict is not the enemy. People can disagree with one another. That's okay. Fights will break out. Violence can happen. Things can get messy. That's not a problem; that's people living life. White labels it anarchy. I call it people being people.

An important part of life is wanting things. It gives you purpose. When you get them, it makes you feel good. It fulfills you. And sometimes, you won't get the thing, but you'll have a life experience and you'll learn something. Desire is not evil. It's core to experience. White's philosophy attempts to convince people to unlearn all the things they intrinsically know. Yeah, you'll never suffer if nothing is ever at risk, but then you also don't live. I'd rather live a life of high highs and low lows than never know either.

That's my issue with White. I'm the bad guy? I'm the Magic color that tries to help people find fulfillment, the Magic color that wants you to feel, experience, and celebrate things. I'm the good guy. I'm the color who's trying to make sure that when this life ends, you did something that mattered. I want to make sure you didn't just sit back the entire time, afraid to do anything because it could possibly impact someone else.

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Next up is Blue. If White is the king of telling you not to listen to your inner voice, Blue is the mastermind of not acting on it. Blue is all about thinking everything through. You have to wait until you've investigated every possibility to make sure that you're not making a mistake. Guess what? It's okay to make mistakes. In fact, I would go so far as say it's important to make mistakes. Mistakes are the best teacher. As Maro likes to say, success breeds repetition. If something works, you'll probably just keep doing it the same way.

But when something fails, that's a lesson. You don't want it to happen again, so you figure out what caused it. You make a plan to do it differently next time. It motivates you to change, to improve, to become better. Blue is all about finding the perfect version of itself. That doesn't come from thinking things through. It comes from acting, facing consequences, and learning from them. It's that iterative loop that Maro loves talking about, the thing that the designers use to make the game better. Do something, get feedback, make changes. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Blue will talk about missed opportunities. If you're too rash, you might do something that prevents you from reaching your full potential. You'll miss out on something important. Here's my counter to that. Let's say you're Blue and you take a whole day to think through every ramification so that when you finally make a decision, it's optimized to be the best. During that same day, I go and do hundreds of things. I meet people, I participate in activities, I experience new stuff, I live life. Which of us is truly missing out on opportunities?

The other problem is that Blue's scared to death of emotions. Heaven forbid you feel anything. On your deathbed, you're not going to remember your thoughts, you're going to remember your feelings—how people, things, and events made you feel. Blue treats emotions as if they are enemies within, as if they exist only to lead you astray. Maybe being led astray isn't so bad. Maybe you don't know everything. Maybe having unexpected things happen allows you to learn things you never would have otherwise.

Here's another thing: why is a book the definitive source for knowledge and your emotions aren't? A book doesn't know you. A book hasn't lived your life. Emotions come from real-world experiences. If you're angry, you're angry for a reason. Maybe it's Ned, maybe it's something else. You won't know why you're mad until you act on that impulse. Emotions are a byproduct of you and your experiences. That's so much more valuable than a book.

If Blue had its way, no one would do anything. We'd all live in cold little cocoons, tucked away from the world, calculating the potential of lives not lived. I'm not saying every action I take is right, but at least it's constantly advancing toward something. At least I'm embracing my passions. At least I'm living my life. At least I'm doing something.

I'm sad for Blue. Blue gets to examine every aspect of what it's like to ride a bike while I'm off actually riding a bike. Yeah, I'll occasionally skin my knee or maybe I'll crash my bike into a tree, but I'll have done something. I'll have a story to tell my grandkids. On my deathbed, I won't say "I never rode a bike because there's .0001% chance I'll run into a tree." Instead, I'll be say, "Let me tell you about the time I drove into a tree. That's how I met the love of my life."

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This brings us to my allies. The Magic color Black is one of my allies. We get along and see eye to eye on a bunch of stuff. Black gets that it's okay to prioritize what you need and that no one else can understand you like you can. Black understands that sometimes, to get what you want, you need to tap into your more destructive side. They get that taking risks is just a part of living life, and in the big picture, they understand that it's okay to get your hands dirty from time to time. Sometimes life can be a lot, and to deal with it, you do what you must. White and Blue love calling me reckless. Black does, too, but at least they smile when they say it. Black is also just fun to hang out with. They know how to have a good time, something I don't believe White or Blue are capable of.

That said, Black can be a bit scary at times. I'm all for some amount of selfishness, but Black takes it to an extreme. The idea that you would ever truly trust another person is beyond Black. Black would stab their mother in the back if there was something in it for them. Which means, of course, never take your eye off Black. You can't completely trust them. While I have a selfish side, I'm very much about loyalty to the people who matter to me. If I truly bond with someone, I'm willing to go to hell and back for them. I understand why others matter in a way that I think is beyond Black.

As a quick aside, let me address a stereotype about me. Yeah, I have an angry side, but that's just one facet of me. In a game about fighting, I get why my aggression shows up more than most of my other qualities, but that doesn't mean I don't care about other emotional impulses. Love, happiness, sadness, fear, disgust—all of those emotions matter just as much even if they show up on fewer cards. I'm about embracing all of my emotions, not just the ones that blow stuff up. Although, to be fair, blowing stuff up is pretty fun.

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My other ally is Green. Green is also a color more about action than thinking. They understand that you're going get internal impulses that drive what you do. Yeah, they're more about instinct than impulse, but it plays out similarly. Green also taps into their destructive side. When we get together, we love breaking stuff. Blowing up stuff and breaking stuff are two of my favorite things.

Green and I share a few pet peeves: artifacts, flying creatures, and Ned. Green enjoys attacking and is never afraid of getting into a fight. Green understands that, sometimes, might makes right, and they're willing to break a few eggs when they need an emergency omelet. Like Black, hanging around with Green is usually pretty fun.

Green has this spiritual side that I don't quite get. They're a little more community oriented than I am. I understand caring about those that matter to you personally, but Green has this whole "web of life" thing that, I'll be honest, seems like gobbledygook. Basically, when Green gets riled up, I'm there. But when they calm down—boring!

I'll end today by talking about my strengths and weaknesses. My biggest strength is my speed. I make decisions quickly and take action. That means I'm usually attacking before my opponent has finished their coffee. This leads to an aggression unheralded by any other color—okay, White can be pretty fast when it needs to be. Combine that with my destructive skills, and I can be a force to reckon with. Being fast and focused can be a huge problem for people that are taking their time to do something.

But on the flip side, I'll admit I can be a bit short-sighted. I'll act in the moment and think about the consequences later. Sometimes, when later rolls around, I'll get myself into a lot of trouble. Like I said above, I'm not afraid of making mistakes, but with an attitude like that, I make my fair share. I don't think that's a bad thing. I think mistakes are important, but I do get myself in a bind more often than the other colors. Some might say I'm my own worst enemy.

So why adopt my philosophy? Because it will lead to a more fulfilled life. You'll meet more people, do many things, and have great stories to tell. You won't be full of regrets on your deathbed. Rather, it will be a collection of really cool stories. What more could you want out of life than having truly lived it? That's what I have to offer.

It looks like I actually got to 3,000 words. I'll be honest, I wasn't expecting that. My first draft was just "Listen to your internal voice and act on it." That's it. Mic drop. Yeah, it's an article, so I didn't have a mic. That's why I reworked it. Anyway, thanks for reading what I had to say. Maybe it gave you something to think about—and act on, of course.

There's one last thing. Maro likes getting feedback about his articles, so he wants to hear what you thought of mine. Not me, though; you like it, you don't—no skin off my nose. You can email me or contact him through social media (Bluesky, Tumblr, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter) with feedback on this article or on me, the color Red.

Maro wanted me to tell you next week he'll be previewing a card from Magic: The Gathering® | Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Until then, always remember a life lived is its own reward.