Play

This is a perspective from a child (at heart), one that grew up in the sixties and seventies in a country under a weird regime, on a continent filled with people of great complexity. I guess this implies that whatever I say here may be very local and simply too bounded by my “reality” to be true in general. I guess that’s true of most things, but I thought it would still be interesting to explore some ideas with you.

When do people cease to play - not games bound by some game rules, but play in a way where the patterns are only dictated by imagination? “On average at age ...” in your answer will work for me.

I have thought quite a bit about this over the last day or so. It seems to me that many people, driven by all sorts of social and environmental issues drift slowly out of the ability to imagine freely, to try things openly and to just go bravely where they have not gone before or to go bravely where they have failed before!! There are all sorts of reasons: social norms, for example. I want to get back to society and the style-cramping influence it can have a bit later. There may be environmental issues - lack of food or a harsh living environment in general. But the more I think about it, and the more I read and search the web, the more I see that even these things do not get in the way of the in-born need to play. In the worst of places, but if the physical energy is there, kids will still devise a game.

However, the societal erosion of our ability to be free souls deserves a bit of a discussion here. If one grows up as a boy in some societies, you are afforded more freedom to express yourself than the girls. Already this is something that is inexplicable in this day and age. Over time, the rules of engagement start to encroach on even the most vivid of imaginations. At a certain age certain things are not socially acceptable any more - why - no-one can explain. Maybe, some may claim, it will cause a chaotic society, maybe it will be too dangerous for the individual, maybe it may irritate or confront the “values” of majorities, minorities, or dinosaurs.

The impact of this degradation of imagination and freedom of expression in play is that the society dumbs down. I am willing to back this up by stating that we only have to look at those individuals that made and are making the big contributions to humanity. Imagine an imagination deprived Albert Einstein, consider a conforming Madonna, think of where we would be if all the jazz musicians of the world would stop improvising. Now look at how these people try and in many cases retain their playfulness. Joking, dancing, playing and often ending up being frowned upon by society for nonconformist behavior, these things are all part of the content of the books of life they write. They have their serious moments - we all do, for sure. Later, we tend to pine for them, reading their biographies.

You may be quick to point out that some are destroyed in the process. This is true. However, some individuals in society are destroyed by the sheer hopelessness of it all, the pure day-to-day grind. They may end up in the same morgue as the playful ones and on the same day. Which one is responsible for the bigger tragedy? The excuses at age 50 include that our dumbed down state cannot be changed this late, it is politically incorrect, that we grew up this way, that a mother somewhere caused it, that it is too dangerous now, and possibly even, that you will never like it anyway, or that stress prevents you from relaxing enough! “It is better to burn out than it is to rust”, exclaims Neil Young on the album “Rust never sleeps”.

I am not advocating stupidity. When I look at the kids running on a beach, racing their bicycles in a quiet neighbourhood street, when I see boys pushing and shoving each other around in an impromptu tag type game in a pool - then I see the spirit I am talking about. When I see the boys diving off a cliff on a warm summer day into azure waters below, I know that they have not been hit fully by the plague of “I will not try this, because...”, “It does not fit with my image of…” or “It is just not done!”. They see it for what it is - enjoying the richness of life by being deeply free to express their vitality. They still have a spirit of exploration.

Being able to run, to dance, to imagine, to try, to fail, to experience new things, to try again and again, to joke and to tease, to look at the clouds and to chase their shadows on a beach, these are the things that I believe form part of play. Playing with your partner in special ways in a relationship, trying new things to delight and surprise, encouraging your kids to run on the edge rather than to explain why everything is: wrong, ugly, grim, not done, not acceptable, a bit too weird - you name it - just this may be the first steps on the path to recovery.

This is a path that includes the deep emotion of a hug, the explosive fragrant crunch of a fresh pear as you bite into it and the heart-racing excitement of remembering as you kiss a lover on the forehead, when all the familiar things fire you up to renew, revitalise, to imagine and to say: “What if …. “.

My wish for you is that you may also be in the group of those that still play like this, even at the moment when death rips them away from this place.

The photo in this blog is by a friend, Michelle, who gracefully allowed me to use it on this blog. Have a look at some of her other work at Photo.net.