Original Play

Applying the Intelligence of Play
An Invitational Symposium

Original Play In A Contest Culture
O. Fred Donaldson, Ph.D.

Summary
The athlete has two pressures, adults and the peer group. A team of little league players is a team only vis-a-vis another team. If that other team is not present, what you have is inter-team contest and that is as aggressive and as hurtful, emotionally and physically, as the game against another team and this hierarchy is always present. The whole idea of sports is that it builds camaraderie, but it does that only at the expense of the other team. Togetherness is only a consequence of an outside adversary. The contest culture is designed to keep you on edge, to keep you wondering whether you're in or out. The moment you are on edge, your entire immune system is not working at its highest levels. The whole thing is designed to work against itself. Had I not played with wolves and cheetahs, I would have never understood that they know another kind of behavior. They know contest but there's another dimension which is original play, and if we don't know what to look for, it's invisible. We have been programmed for so long, not only as a culture, but as human beings, to believe that fight/flight, survival of the fittest and competition is the only way to be. The challenge has been to explore and share an experience which the whole world says doesn't exist? How does one say, not only that it exists, but that it is absolutely necessary - that it's tangible and real. It's not fairy tale and it's not idealistic, rather, it is absolutely essential. The contest culture is a dead-end.

As a child I didn't go out to "practice" play, nor did I go out to be transformed. I went out to play. Therein lies a secret: play is a naturally occurring, pre-existing process-pattern that connects and vitalizes all life. From children and animals I re-discovered that authentic play is:

A gift of Creation, not an artifact of culture;

Sharing two gifts: you're lovable, and there's nothing to be afraid of;

A relationship of kindness and belonging that is in Nature and in our nature;

Characterized by love, trust, kindness, touch, wonder, joy;

To belong to and be in touch with a world that is in touch with us;

More meaningful and more life-sustaining than contesting.

Playing For Keeps: The Duchess Game As Pathogenic Play
Very early in childhood our original play is adulterated into cultural play. Having abandoned the authentic variety and then degrading it as "childish", we go on to invent innumerable mystical, esoteric, and scientific practices to re-capture the play that we gave up. We pay a very high price for abdicating original play for the Duchess Game (from Alice in Wonderland) in which:

The life process of play becomes an act in service to culture.

We are ashamed of childhood's gifts, stripped of natural survival mechanisms.

We live the illusion that the more you have means the less I have.

We become addicted to contest as a way of life.

Play's love is replaced by fear leading to "cardiosclerosis", hardening of the heart.

Self-defense becomes the organizing principle of action.
O. Fred Donaldson, PhD, Page 2

The feeling of belonging is replaced by membership.

Inclusive play is replaced with exclusive play. We have no models that sustain the experience of kindness.

Mastery is replaced with expertise.

Our relationships are governed by fairness, revenge, scores, winning & losing, cheating, self-defense and sides.

Everything of value, including friendship, love, and self-esteem, is limited.

Children experience failure to thrive.

We are so out of touch, that the world has gotten out of hand.

Applying the Intelligence of Play: Playing For Real In A Playing For Keeps World
We are seeking the experience of being alive. This seems easy enough; the difficulty is that in order to find it, we must not be afraid of life. Authentic play remains a latent capacity that has immense potential for enhancing and sustaining life on earth. Authentic play is a new relationship requiring both vision and practice.

Vision
Everyone Can Play. Play is not a great thing, just a little thing done with great love.

Practice
Authentic play requires a union of vision and practice which renews the mind, revitalizes the heart, rebuilds the body, and restores the soul. Play is nothing less than the creation of the human we are meant to be. To be fully human is to be handmade. In play we rub off on each other. This is the internal glow of a well touched human. This patina of play is the union of heart and hand in a task elegantly perceived and gracefully done.

What happens when we apply the intelligence of play?

We can act wholeheartedly, putting ourselves body, mind, heart, and soul into a situation, refusing numbness and fear in favor of love, thereby transcending the fears, contests and categories in which we live our everyday lives. This is the path of mastery.

We play to heal, not to defend, and in doing so create authentic playgrounds, time/places of safety and love, where everyone is included.

We are beginners, allowing ourselves to touch and be touched by the wonder and mystery of the world. We feel our belonging.

We are able to give love at the point of attack thereby cutting the archaic cycle of hurt, hurt avenged, and vengeance revenged.

O. Fred Donaldson, Ph. D., is a play specialist, author, aikidoist and educational consultant internationally recognized for his ongoing play and research with children and wild animals. For over twenty-five years. Dr. Donaldson has been a pioneer in the use of play as an alternative to contest behavior, abuse and aggression. He travels internationally to play with children and animals, conduct workshops, and train adults in the significance of play as a universal and practical way to experience belonging. He has written the Pulitzer nominated book, Playing By Heart and has authored over 30 articles.