How We Play

Adults seek a refuge from Outer Reality in which another reality can be established — a play space — a refuge for their pleasure and healing.

That play space may be as simple and ephemeral as a comfortable place to rest safely and secure from intrusion or observation, or a shower with freedom to sing and play air guitar, or undisturbed hours with a video game.

The key factors are the boundaries secure against intrusion and the freedom of those within or who enter to establish the conditions and rules within.

For example:

Learning

Learning was the work of our younger selves, from which we often sought refuge. In our adult lives, Learning offers a refuge from concerns in Outer Reality and provides a Pleasure bringing respite to Inner Reality.

solo, on campus, more mind than body

Exploring

Exploring Outer Reality as a tourist or observer can be a refuge from interacting with our concerns in Outer Reality and provide a source of Pleasure to Inner Reality.

solo or group, in field, mind and body

Sport

Sport includes physical activity which, through casual or organized participation, aim at expressing or improving physical fitness and mental well-being, forming social relationships, or obtaining results in competition.

Each sport is centered on a set of rules, conditions, and expectations for participation a venue is set aside for that purpose. These constitute the refuge, and participation is the means of refreshment.

solo or team, gym or field, body and mind

Theater

Theater is a form of play that provides an acceptable venue for setting aside logic and the rules of “how it is” and “how it must be” of our ordinary outer reality in our time and culture and, whether as actors or audience, step into another time, place, and culture for a structured experience — and then return

Empowered by willing suspension of disbelief, theater offers the opportunity for the audience to experience the atmosphere and ambience of the situation presented and to participate vicariously in the story presented.

The actors, participating actively in the story but constrained to follow the script, are also for that period living in the reality portrayed.

solo, in scene, in character, body and mind

I am reminded here of the bubble of reality that is the Star Trek universe, where many of us have taken refuge from time to time.

solo, in scene, vicarious character, mind and spirit

Role-playing games

In role-playing games, the players themselves participate in establishing the boundaries and parameters of the game reality, then enter that reality in role and interact with each other in the situations in which they find themselves.

Dungeons and Dragons provides resources developed over the years for establishing the game reality. The Dungeon Master develops the particulars and challenges hidden in the situation at hand, into which the players enter in role and interact with each other and the DM as the seek and meet the challenges.

The entire reality can be contained around the dining room table.

Live Action Role-Playing games follow a similar pattern, with the players and author together in real time, in costume, indoor and outdoors, in a setting large enough to support the action. A game may be adjourned and recommence at a later date.

group, in scene, in character, mind and body

Ritual

Unlike theater, role-playing games, and other forms of adult play, ritual enjoys the sanctions of respectability in most cultures and many situations.

Reassured by authority, custom, and familiarity, intentional participants in ritual may temporarily allow themselves to release some of the defenses of the boundaries between Outer Reality and Inner Reality.

solo, in ritual space, as Self, body, mind, and spirit

See on Self-Care/ The Cosmic Carwash

Scene

The Scene combines aspects of role-playing games, ritual, and adult intimate physical interactions in negotiated play between two or more consenting adults taking agreed-upon roles.

solo, in negotiated scene, body, mind, and spirit

Solitary headspace

We carry the necessary refuge within us when we can open the perceptions of our Inner Reality while honoring most of our senses with our inattention.

Reading uses Built-in Orderly Organized Knowledge (BOOK) to entice us into another reality, particularly if we choose well-composed story narratives.