Tenet 1: If you roll the dice then you must obey

Compliance with Dice Theory requires that the unpredictable outcome of the dice roll is followed by unequivocally predictable execution. A dice roll is a firm resolution. There is no requirement to roll the dice on a decision, but failing to respect a dice roll even once corrodes its utility. Akrasia eludes the entire premise of Dice Theory.

In order to roll the dice on a decision, assign values from the dice to possible actions. For example, if you are deciding between Option A or Option B and using a 6-sided dice, you can assign odds (1,3,5) to Option A and evens (2,4,6) to Option B. If the dice roll shows a 3 face-up, you will follow through on Option A. Alternatively, you might assign pairs (1,2), (3,4), (5,6) to 3 separate options. You could have 5 different options assigned to 5 different values, with the 6th value denoting a re-roll. You could also apply weighting to certain outcomes. For example, (1,2,3,4,5) could be assigned to Option A and (6) could be assigned to Option B. There are numerous types of decision combinations and it is completely up to you to decide the assignments.

There is only one rule - if you roll the dice then you must obey.

The only exception to the rule is if pertinent new information presents itself after a dice roll and the original choices have fundamentally altered. It’s important to be honest with yourself during these situations and not seek a flimsy justification to opt out. Apart from this exception, Dice Theory is incomplete without decision follow through. It does not value rolling dice purely as an experiment. There are alternative devices and exercises designed to identify what decision you want to make. For example, you can flip a coin when stuck at a decision juncture. While the coin is in the air, you might become aware of a preference for the coin to land on a specific side, thereby elucidating a course of action to take. The goal of Dice Theory is not to determine what you want. If anything, it encourages exploration of what you do not want.

To grow radically, we must liberate ourselves from ourselves. The self is constrained by what it knows. Every subconscious and conscious decision is informed by every decision leading up to it. “Gut” decisions offer us illusory control. Default deterministic dynamics rooted in past and present forces inhibit the pace of our expansion. We must loosen from our normal thoughts, desires, and actions. We must reject the control that our past seeks to claim on our future.

Randomness enables us to do so. Injecting randomness into our lives allows us to abandon forces of causality. We find ourselves in unexpected territory, where unexpected growth can occur. By responding only to our inner inclinations, we are servants to our circumstance. Randomness counterintuitively permits an elevated degree of ownership of our growth trajectory, one that exists beyond even our own imaginations.

Dice rolling is not pure randomness. It is controlled randomness. We choose when to roll the dice. The outcomes assigned to each dice value are still restricted by our own creativity, which is in turn dictated by our past. Determinism would suggest that the dice is bound to land on the value it surfaces. Despite these facts, the subject cannot determine the dice outcome they will have to follow. The less we commit to randomness, the more deterministic the outcome. So long as we commit to obeying the dice, we increase the randomness in the equation of our life trajectory. As chaos theory suggests, even slight changes to conditions give rise to substantial consequences over time.

Carving rifts in the deterministic trail and thereby enabling radical growth is not the only benefit of compliance to the dice roll. A system of disciplined obedience built around a constant state of unpredictability coaches us to conquer fear of the unknown. Unquestionably following through on our decisions without regret becomes a habit that extends beyond dice rolling. If we can invariably adhere to chance-based decisions we can certainly abide by our strategic decisions. As we remain loyal to dice, we also learn to trust ourselves via trust in dice. Finally, applying dice to decisions that would otherwise be chosen by established modalities encourages rebellious playfulness and heighten our state of consciousness.

As we’ll see in the subsequent chapters, the control from controlled randomness is as critical to the growth from Dice Theory as the randomness. One cannot exist without the other. Reliable obedience is the only rule of Dice Theory. It is Tenet #1 for a reason.

There is no path deviation after the dice is rolled. However, you are at complete liberty to press the eject button prior to take-off - after all, no decision requires a dice roll.

Tenet 1: If you roll the dice then you must obey

Read Tenet 2