Spirituality and Play
Did you engage in forms of play as a child that you feel influenced you spiritually?
Recently I caught a radio promo for a program about the role of play in spirituality. It reminded me of two childhood activities that had major spiritual/moral effects on me.
Out on the Somersworth Frontier
One was my “Daniel Boone” phase. I, uh, had it all – the coonskin cap, the buckskin jacket, and a Sears-Roebuck plastic flintlock rifle with powder horn. Sometimes I played this with friends, but more often alone.
The spiritual aspect came mainly from my solitary Daniel Boone play in the wilderness of small-town Somersworth, New Hampshire. Within a short walking distance from my house were two areas with small woodlands. My grandfather’s twelve acres of woods, fields, and a stream were in easy biking distance.
So thanks to this activity, as a kid I spent quite a lot of time in the woods. And in between Indian attacks, I found myself coming under nature’s spell: the blue sky, the wind in the leaves far overhead, the wonderful scent of pine trees… At the time, I took my heavy dose of “one with nature” experiences completely for granted. That was just how life was. Looking back, I’m sure they helped provide a foundation for the sense of being present to a reality transcending the borders of self.
Playing Men
A second activity that I spent countless hours on, both alone and with friends, was “playing men.” This meant playing with toy soldiers. I guess post baby-boomers would wonder how boys could find small plastic statues that entertaining. But there were basically no other options. The only “action figure” in the sixties was GI Joe, and he was under suspicion by many of us as being a “doll” because of the moving limbs and approximate Barbie size. I only remember one of my friends getting one. We had a kind of “don’t ask/don’t tell” policy on the status of his new toy.
Despite the apparent militarism and sexism surrounding the toy men, or at least the political incorrectness, for me the activity was an absorbing exploration of certain moral themes - and since I often played with them outdoors, it also had that nature aspect. The moral themes included loyalty, courage, overcoming odds (my “good guys” were always outnumbered), and the idea of quality vs. quantity.
Were there childhood games/activities that you feel helped shape your character and spirit? If you have children or grandchildren, do you see them engaging in any forms of play that seem to have this sort of effect on them?
Recently I caught a radio promo for a program about the role of play in spirituality. It reminded me of two childhood activities that had major spiritual/moral effects on me.
Out on the Somersworth Frontier
One was my “Daniel Boone” phase. I, uh, had it all – the coonskin cap, the buckskin jacket, and a Sears-Roebuck plastic flintlock rifle with powder horn. Sometimes I played this with friends, but more often alone.
The spiritual aspect came mainly from my solitary Daniel Boone play in the wilderness of small-town Somersworth, New Hampshire. Within a short walking distance from my house were two areas with small woodlands. My grandfather’s twelve acres of woods, fields, and a stream were in easy biking distance.
So thanks to this activity, as a kid I spent quite a lot of time in the woods. And in between Indian attacks, I found myself coming under nature’s spell: the blue sky, the wind in the leaves far overhead, the wonderful scent of pine trees… At the time, I took my heavy dose of “one with nature” experiences completely for granted. That was just how life was. Looking back, I’m sure they helped provide a foundation for the sense of being present to a reality transcending the borders of self.
Playing Men
A second activity that I spent countless hours on, both alone and with friends, was “playing men.” This meant playing with toy soldiers. I guess post baby-boomers would wonder how boys could find small plastic statues that entertaining. But there were basically no other options. The only “action figure” in the sixties was GI Joe, and he was under suspicion by many of us as being a “doll” because of the moving limbs and approximate Barbie size. I only remember one of my friends getting one. We had a kind of “don’t ask/don’t tell” policy on the status of his new toy.
Despite the apparent militarism and sexism surrounding the toy men, or at least the political incorrectness, for me the activity was an absorbing exploration of certain moral themes - and since I often played with them outdoors, it also had that nature aspect. The moral themes included loyalty, courage, overcoming odds (my “good guys” were always outnumbered), and the idea of quality vs. quantity.
Were there childhood games/activities that you feel helped shape your character and spirit? If you have children or grandchildren, do you see them engaging in any forms of play that seem to have this sort of effect on them?
Posted by Paul at 9:35 AM Permalink
14 Comments:
I'm afraid that it is a sensation that fewer and fewer children experience.
I started penning a book on this a few years ago and I think it is calling for completion. Mystical-type essays about living on big water (a blessing in my own life) and what lessons we are invited to learn. I tentatively titled it "LIquid God." We will see. :-)
Love your thoughts here. Beautiful writing!
Such wonderful feelings associated with that, and your words really conjure them up.
Crystal – You know, that’s an interesting thing to consider – I mean, kids generally love animals to one degree or another. Both the real thing and toys and even pictures of animals. I didn’t happen to be into animal toys in any major way, but you’ve got me wondering exactly what’s behind that…
Jan – Same here. That was one of the major (re)discoveries of my life – finding, in my mid twenties, that the connection I’d had with nature in childhood could blossom again in a related and yet new way.
That’s also one of the things about that visit to St. Joseph’s abbey that really impressed me – how contact with nature was such an integral part of their monastic way of life.
i feel bad to this day.
retribution i say. i will repent. no more such acts. gee, i have a problem. please be my friend still.
Mist – I did something along those lines with two yellow jackets once – got two in a jar, shook the jar up, and watched them end up stinging each other – then never again. A long time ago I read an anecdote that as a child Walt Disney had killed an owl, I think it was, and that this was a similar learning experience for him.
Vishesh – I feel that way too – that sport at its best is truly inspirational.
Robin – You know, the fact that that sort of cooperative play helped shape you socially is itself important at least developmentally, and maybe in terms of your character in the long run.
What I have in mind here is how, as my career in the schools progressed, it gradually became a common observation among teachers that many children seem to have never acquired the ability to organize themselves for play. Recess has gradually become an increasingly chaotic event over the years.
oh, that IS sad! When I was quite young I was drafted into cowboy/indian games by my older sister and a boy who lived in the apt. downstairs. Later, my mom urged me to go to the neighbor, who had a girl and boy a bit younger than I, and ask if they could come out and play with me, and I promised to "keep an eye on them." (I was 6! I'm sure my mom watched from the window...)
mostly we looked at bugs, made mud balls, played tag, and various kinds of "playing grownup." Later there was a gravel pile behind a store that we played king-of-the-mountain on.
At school there were more-or-less organized games of chase and kickball: sometimes boys against girls, and other times with rapidly changing rules about whose side each kid was on.
I don't remember a time when I didn't just meet up with other kids and figure out together what we wanted to play. It was sort of random, like a flash mob. Suddenly we'd all be playing the same game...
Hayden – You’ve got it exactly – it feels like I’m back on the playground chatting with a colleague! That’s exactly the comparison we’d find ourselves making – how as kids, we just spontaneously organized for games ourselves, in contrast to the large number of children today who require an adult to organize activities. “ADD?” The fact that today adults often structure so much of children’s time for them that they don’t learn how to do it themselves?
Post a Comment