Now in myth and ritual the great instinctive forces of civilized life have their origin: law and order, commerce and profit, craft and art, poetry, wisdom and science. All are rooted in the primeval soil of play.
Johan Huizinga
Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play-Element in Culture
1938
Playing is creating
For scientists, artists, statesmen, and sportsmen, and for the rest of us, asking the surprising question is sometimes more important than solving a problem. Will the beam travel faster from a speeding locomotive's headlamp? Can paint dabs create an impression of color? Can you surf on snow? Can M&M's replace raisins in brownies? Can we be happy and free? We play, therefore we think.
Playing is writing and reading
In the beginning was the blank page. Smooth stone, clay tablet, parchment, sheet, and screen have waited for words to be chiseled, inscribed, drawn, penned, typed, and keyed-in. Who knows how tiny the fraction of our stories that are recorded? Fewer still is the fraction shared. But when readers read what writers have written, the former join a game, mind to mind, across time, culture, and distance.
Playing is Understanding Nature
Think back to a time forgotten: when you first saw an earthworm unearthed, watched an ant run crazily about, or chased that uncatchable butterfly. Why do pill bugs roll up? What makes a skunk stink? How do caterpillars change so beautifully? Where does a flame go when it goes "out"? Questions that arise in play sometimes take a lifetime to answer.
Playing is therapy
We observe holidays and plan vacations to arrange a restorative break in the routine. At the other end of the time scale, jokes spirit us away for a few seconds. Commonly we look to games and sports so we can "lose ourselves" for a moment. More profoundly, medical professionals have also discovered in play a technique for children to "find themselves" in life-changing therapy.
