**Play Matters
So what do we really mean by play. It clearly varies widely from individual to individual. For some of us it introduces more order into our lives. For others of us it opens up certain avenues to freedom. Play operates a dynamic where stimulation flows and occurs at a pace, which we sense as pleasurable. Therefore, it can calm or stimulate, depending on the person and the setting. Consistently, play keeps us in a state of mind where a high probability of a novel response exists after some set of repetitions. If many things occur, some pattern will sort actions in a way to temporarily limit the chaos. The actual play occurs as a sorting principle that applies to the elements in the process, rather than when the process finishes. Whatever action has been engaged in for the outcome, the action represents play, while the outcome, although desired, serves as the token of the play having taken place.
I think many of us would be far more willing to play, if we fully believed that the outcome represented a mere byproduct of the intention rather than the proof of the intention, our sixteenth assumption
Think how difficult it is to teach children that winning the game matters less than how they participate. How many times have we heard this idea? They don’t believe us; we didn’t believe them. Who lives that way as an adult? Well, I want to find them and play with them! We’d have to do a far better job of instilling the value of playing in every aspect of our lives, if we intend to convey deeply to the next generation the value of play. Can we support a deep satisfaction in getting to play? This value reveals a timeless wonder in getting lost in the playing for its own sake. And in so living, we take up residence in our life in the present moment.
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