PoP Book 06.2s MidRes - Flipbook - Page 17
Elephant
Considering how play weaves through every strand of life, it’s pretty
strange that almost nobody really talks about it.
When you bring up the subject, most people assume there’s not much
to discuss, and you’ll hear them say, “Oh, you mean like kids’ stuff?”.
They seem to agree it’s important, but the moment things drift away
from sport, children or video games, their eyes go a bit hazy and
confusion floods in.
But these are the same people who play soldiers at the weekend, play
power games at work, play charades at Christmas, listen to their kids
play the piano, shout at the screen when they see their elected officials
playing politics with people’s lives, and play with ideas when they’re
looking for a new angle on whatever daily endeavor they’re involved in.
So the first problem is trying to isolate which of these word-forms
to follow, and which of these worlds to explore. Is it just word-play and
semantics, or are these all the same, or different, fields of energy?
•
Stuart Brown is the founder of the US National Institute for Play. He
has a great deal of knowledge about his subject, based on forty years
of study, and the 6000-plus ‘play histories’ he’s taken from all kinds
of people. He says understanding the importance of play is probably
the key factor in being truly fulfilled. ‘I don’t think it’s too much to say
that play can save your life. It certainly has salvaged mine’.7 He calls
play ‘the stick that stirs the drink’ and ‘the vital essence of life’. He
points to it being behind all art, games, books, sports, movies, fashion,
fun, and wonder. In short, everything we think of as civilisation. But is
he talking about a philosophy, a state of mind, a behaviour?
We all know, of course, that play powers the exploration and discovery of
childhood. It shows what does and doesn’t work, through pretending and
acting-out; and in that way we call it the first and best route into learning.
But, just beneath the top layer of life for people of any age, it’s ever-present
in our interchange with the world and its other occupants. It’s a swirling
current of attitude you can find oiling all experience — a fundamental
element of human being, which can blend with other motives and drivers
on a dial set anywhere between 0 % ‘no-play’ and 100 % ‘pure play’.8
What is Play? / Elephant
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