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"It's only people's games you got to dodge" -Dylan

rfossr

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I've been thinking this lyric over (from dylan's It's alright Ma) and it continues to interest me because i can't quite get my mind around it. I've found info online about so called social games like guilt trips, reject and retreat, and pretend confusion games, but everyone i talk to thinks its creepy or doesn't understand me . So i figured i'd throw it up here. your thoughts are appreciated
 
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ReflecTcelfeR

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I imagine it's warning you to avoid others manipulative tendencies.
 

rfossr

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i figured that much. i guess i was looking for examples. however counter productive these games may be there existence is interesting
 

Bamboo

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Don't get involved in playing games (manipulative dynamics), Dylan is warning you. And by "having to dodge", he's indicating that you actively have to keep an eye out for what's going on. It's easy to get into a game with someone without realizing it, if you don't know what to look out for.

Nothing replaces experience in terms of identifying what's going on.
 
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ReflecTcelfeR

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Most people that I know use a guilting approach. The ole' "-sigh- I guess you don't have to come, but your grandparents miss you and they'd really like to see you" phrase. I have become immune to it, but I find that guilt is usually the first choice for most people.
 

rfossr

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makes sense. i guess in the end its better to identify and avoid rather than coerce others. but i know Dylan must have had his own games
 

Reflection

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Most people that I know use a guilting approach. The ole' "-sigh- I guess you don't have to come, but your grandparents miss you and they'd really like to see you" phrase. I have become immune to it, but I find that guilt is usually the first choice for most people.

My mother. That woman is a freakin' expert on guilt trips, I swear. Sometimes it really annoys me, but most of the time it's more like 'meh, alright, whatever'.

Anyway, to the original poster (because I can't be bothered right now to go and check who it is, or god forbid, quote): it could be that you're overthinking it. Imagine that.
 

Bamboo

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There's what I'll call the 'damsel in distress game', where a woman (or man) acts in such a way where there are real or imagined issues she is having blocking her from realizing some goal. Or she is "stuck" in a bad situation.

Well meaning individuals might try to step in and help her get past this block, only to find that she won't take the steps necessary to do so, even with much time and effort.

After a while, it becomes apparent that what the 'damsel' really wants is attention. She wants someone to pay attention to her (low self esteem is common among the damsel's), but she doesn't really want to be "saved." This is especially apparent if the damsel fails to show appreciation for the steps other's may take to help her.

At some point, with the damsel's, you have to walk away and realize that they are manipulating you for attention, and if they really want to overcome their issues, they need to put in the effort on their own, and if they need help doing so, they should show the people who are trying to help them respect and courtesy.
 

Moonstone3

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I love Dylan!! What a genius! He's a recluse. It's a wonderful line. To me, it explains social games that people will play can destroy you faster than anything else in the world. He's saying that you can truley live if you can do this one thing...dodge people's games. I think it's also implying that you can't avoid them, you have to wait, then dodge. Fight back with your readiness.
 
T

ThatGirl

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There's what I'll call the 'damsel in distress game', where a woman (or man) acts in such a way where there are real or imagined issues she is having blocking her from realizing some goal. Or she is "stuck" in a bad situation.

Well meaning individuals might try to step in and help her get past this block, only to find that she won't take the steps necessary to do so, even with much time and effort.

After a while, it becomes apparent that what the 'damsel' really wants is attention. She wants someone to pay attention to her (low self esteem is common among the damsel's), but she doesn't really want to be "saved." This is especially apparent if the damsel fails to show appreciation for the steps other's may take to help her.

At some point, with the damsel's, you have to walk away and realize that they are manipulating you for attention, and if they really want to overcome their issues, they need to put in the effort on their own, and if they need help doing so, they should show the people who are trying to help them respect and courtesy.


This mentality is exactly why I hate men....You people think you have everything figured out.
 

miss fortune

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:thelook: hey! playing dumb isn't a game! it's a way of life! :nono:
 

Betty Blue

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I've been thinking this lyric over (from dylan's It's alright Ma) and it continues to interest me because i can't quite get my mind around it. I've found info online about so called social games like guilt trips, reject and retreat, and pretend confusion games, but everyone i talk to thinks its creepy or doesn't understand me . So i figured i'd throw it up here. your thoughts are appreciated


Don't think twice it's alright ;)
 

Brian Steere

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I came to this page when searching for the exact quote of this line for something I was writing.

Here's a snip of that part:

I often liken the 'culture' of a fearfully defined self to a botnet. Believing one is free but actually feeding the roots of life denying system that is designed to deny a truly unified consciousness. For identity in fear sees NO benefit and only loss in actually doing to others as one truly would be done by - which is not a vague well intentioned wishfulness, but a clearly discerning sense of what is actually present in any given relational situation.

Bob Dylan came so close but yet so far in some of his lines:
"And though the rules of the road have been lodged, Its only people's games you got to dodge".
This has a level of true because clearly others can be seen to be 'guilting, finessing, manipulating or emotionally blackmailing to coerce others instead of straight asking. But the root that is missed is the presumption it is OTHERS one has to be vigilant against - and not one's OWN mind. It is quite possible to operate insightfully as a subtle manipulator. But it is not possible to be false to another and be honest unto one's self.
Seeing one's own issues in others is the way we make a world of evils to 'dodge'. Recognizing what is our own can also then release what does not truly belong and that will then allow appreciating and learning from the teaching Jesus illuminated when he said 'who is without sin, let them throw the first stone'.

It wouldn't flow as a lyric but it is the game of personae (plural) that is to be uncovered, recognized, and not used for the personal will - but released to a Universal Will. That may sound limiting, but the reverse is true. The personal will is the game of dodge, that limits to divide and rule.

This is a 'deep' answer but shared in free willingness for to be useful or not as each may choose. The addiction to the personal sense is so deep that it is not questioned or challenged (much) - and IS the basis of all the manipulative and coercive misery and fear that denies or 'crucifies' the innocence of joy even when it seeks to champion it.

When you lean into and follow your joy in whatever is your choices and delight, you will meet the things that seem to scupper, sabotage, obstruct, deny, betray or attack your flow of being in life. This may at times be seen in terms of what circumstances or others do or do not do to us or for us - but underneath it is what we do to ourselves that sets us up to react as if what they trigger in us as TRUE. So look out for negative self definitions that situations bring up and challenge their right to define and dictate who you are.

The rules of the road may be lodged as a kind of negative conditioning within the template - but looking at the template opens a capacity to sweep out the 'moneylenders from the temple'. This is not primarily a political act but an acceptance of honesty. Of course a different life comes from a clear foundation but it isn't a device to get that for oneself so much as be that with whoever is in your life.

Otherwise it is self-honesty that one is actually trying to dodge - though the version given to the surface persona will make it seem a threat rather than a witness for Life.
 
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