"Who knows what makes us play? The young of very many species, including our own, spontaneously chase, leap, twist, wrestle and cavort, promoting strength and endurance, instinct, social bonding and adaptation. Complex play with objects and goals is associated with more complex brains. But playing is also, apparently, just for the sheer pleasure of play. An aquarium fish will repeatedly leap in and out of a tiny waterfall. Ravens have been observed sledding on their backs down slopes of snow, and kea parrots toss rocks in the air. Elephants kneel to equalize play with a smaller playmate. Cats, dogs and primates, among others, incorporate objects and obstacles in their play and often have favorite toys. Dolphins invite play with human swimmers. Play, in fact, is a principal way in which acquaintance is made with another". -- from The Book of Symbols
Intuitively, we know how important play is for our ongoing development. We teach children games and give them time to play. Hopscotch, for example, has it's origins in myths about the soul's journey from earth to heaven through a labyrinth. I have no idea why we stop valuing this way of learning for our adult selves, but I think it's a grievous error to do so. As Ramikrishna reminds us, "The divine mother is always sportive. The universe is her play... her pleasure is in continuing the game".
The Book of Symbols further elaborates: "Psychologically, consciousness and unconscious interact and impact one another in all kinds of play. The reverie of play unveils feelings, aspirations, impressions, locked up pieces of experience and potentialities. Play can evoke the affinity and polarity between psychic opposites, and dynamics of exclusion and integration, separation and reunification. Alchemy described a part of the opus as "child's play" despite the arduous nature of the work of self-understanding, suggesting that psychic process requires an attitude of play and that the imagination was a primary tool of the adept".
Carl Jung played "children's games" of drawing, sand-tray, making models out of clay, and dialoging with unseen figures, all of which are ways of engaging the unconscious energies of the psyche in order to coax them into consciousness. Physicists, also, play speculative "god-games" with specialized toys that can only be handled safely because of the agreed upon rules of a specific game. We could conclude, consequently, that play allows for "evolutionary change, self-awareness, scientific discovery, artistic composition, invention, pleasure, good friends of multiple species and the resolution of many questions" (The Book of Symbols).
Do you remember being a young child and enthusiastically ringing someone's doorbell in order to see if they could "come out and play"? I believe that THIS is a good intention to have with ourselves and each other throughout the entire course of our lives. Tremendous creativity and learning can come from play in a way that few other practices are able to facilitate so... playfully. :-)
good & true!
ReplyDeletei have been doing a lot of research on this in the past year after going to a play workshop by Joan Almond... she talks about how children act out scenarios they see in real life through play, and it helps prepare them for situations they may navigate in the future. so many schools focus SO much on cognitive growth, but I tend to think that social/emotional growth is what makes for healthy and well-balanced children. after all, when you're an adult nobody cares about how smart you are, it's about WHO you are... character, values, etc. integrating play within the school day should be seen as just as important as the academics. also - i read this book The Power of Play by David Elkind and it changed the way I teach!
good stuff here, whit! you are one of the most playful and fun people i know!