Portal: Cake and Grief Counseling

In this final Portal post we’ll look more at how test chambers are like life and also the truth behind the cake and grief counseling.

Testing is hard. This is something that you as the player and Chell as the character come to learn through the course of Portal’s narrative. Because of such a rigorous exercise, GLaDOS promises Chell cake and grief counseling at the conclusion of the test. (The need for grief counseling should be a strong indicator of the brutality of the tests.) This game was successful because we can resonate with the testing, the desire for cake, and the need for grief counseling. So what do these things mean for us?

“The Enrichment Center promises to always provide a safe testing environment.”

We’ve already compared other aspects of Portal to real life, but perhaps the most obvious is that life itself is like a test. We move from one chamber to the next experiencing increasingly difficult situations and acquiring new skills. We are presented with challenges and obstacles on a daily basis. These can be all sorts of things- car breaks down, lose a job, lose a significant relationship, death of a loved one, severe illness of yourself or someone else, or maybe just a bad day where too many people cut you off in traffic. We are confronted with tests daily, but James 1:2-4 says that these can be redeemed for our good- “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

Enduring tests produces better people. We learn our weaknesses and strengths. We learn to be resilient. We even learn new skills that we would not have known had it not been for the times when something went wrong. Valve used this in their approach to the gameplay in Portal. They presented test chambers in a manner and sequence that would gradually allow players to learn all the necessary dynamics for navigating the chambers later in the game. Likewise, our tests in life can give us deeper character, added strength, and new skills. But there’s more! We struggle through this life and grow until finally we die….

“….and then there will be cake.”

The strength of character and new skills are rewards in themselves. Through enduring trials we learn to rely more on God than on ourselves. But what’s the reward when this life is over? Chell’s promises of cake were hollow, but we have hope for real cake. God has promised an eternal reward and God’s cake is NOT a lie. Chell learned that you do not get cake at the end of testing, but do you know where can get cake? Wedding receptions.

A wedding reception isn’t a wedding reception without a giant delicious cake. The good news of the gospel (among other things) is that our heavenly reward includes a wedding feast with what can only be the best possible cake ever made. Revelation 19 talks of the Wedding Supper of the Lamb. This is a real event at the end of time in which God’s people will be united with Jesus, much like a wedding ceremony. Of course God’s ultimate wedding will be followed by the most unimaginable party. It will have the best food, drink, music, and of course, cake. While we’re on the subject of the end times and Revelation, let’s talk about….

Grief Counseling

Like Chell, we’re going to need some help when we have finally survived this horrible test of life. God knows and feels the suffering of his people. Just as a loving father comforts his children, so will God provide us with comfort when we are finally done with this life and are able to live with him. Revelation 21 says that God will take away all crying, mourning, pain, and death and he will personally wipe every tear from our eyes. THAT is the best possible grief counseling anyone can ever receive.

Questions

1. What tests and trials have you experienced recently?

2. How have you seen your past struggles change your character and help you grow or learn?

Next time we’ll start looking at Portal 2 as we reacquaint ourselves with GLaDOS and meet some new characters. We’ll be looking at the effects of power and overwhelming need to test.

Portal: The Cake is a Lie

Valve’s surprise hit brought us challenging puzzles and a memorable character in GLaDOS. This week and next we’ll look at Portal and Portal 2 and the messages and themes they portray. Today we’ll discuss the famous (and perhaps overused) line “the cake is a lie” and how it resonates with us in real life.

“The cake is a lie” has probably been used to death by this point. But when gamers first heard promises of delicious, moist cake amongst GLaDOS’ other snide remarks, it represented the promise of something great to come, in addition to the funny and engaging puzzle experience. Everybody has goals, things that we strive for, perhaps for our entire lives. This can be something small or something significant. It can be a relationship or a major achievement. It can be a feeling or a certain situation. For Portal’s main character Chell, her goal from the outset was cake. (Well actually it was probably survival, but cake was what she was presented with so let’s assume she was going for that.)

The cake for us represents the reward for whatever we’ve striven so hard for. It’s that warm fuzzy feeling when we finally settle down with that special someone. It’s that sense of accomplishment when we get a job or that big promotion. It’s that sense of gratification when we’ve beaten a really difficult level on the newest game, or found all the secrets and easter eggs. The cake represents the satisfaction that we receive from life after all of the puzzle-solving and turret-dodging of our everyday struggles.

But is it worth it? Do any of our great aspirations really work out and give us the satisfaction we expected? Not really. Most of the time we’re disappointed. We’re all looking for something to fill a void that few things in this world can fully satisfy. We all put some object, situation or feeling on a pedestal and orient our lives towards that one thing. The person, situation or feeling that goes to the center of our focus is what is called an idol.  Anything placed at the center of our world as an idol had better be rock solid if we’re going to let it guide our lives.

Our culture presents us with many options for how to fill the void that we all have. A new game, a new car, a new food, a new music artist, cooler clothes, sex, money, drugs, success, power, security, and the list goes on.   Just look around and you’ll see advertisers galore just itching to tell you exactly what you need to make you feel whole and complete. These are the delicious cakes that will supposedly make us happy.

But as Chell eventually finds out, there is no cake. The cake is a lie. The cake is a faulty idol, a deception, one that is ultimately leading to her demise. The “victory candescence” that we’re supposed to think is the candlelight on the cake is actually a burning fire pit of destruction heated to no more than 4000 degrees Kelvin. We’ve all been to that point where we thought we had found what would finally make us happy, only to realize it was a terrible lie. The cakes that our culture presents to us are hollow promises that will never be fulfilled.

Proverbs says that “There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.” As you toil and strive towards whatever you think will bring you satisfaction in life, ask yourself- is it something real or just a fleeting pleasure? Is your cake a lie?

Come back next time as we look at the help we have to get us through this maze of tests.