Playing Works

According to Martha Beck:

"...So despite our pathetically infantile teeth, claws, skeletons, and musculature, we dominate other species the way Peter Pan dominated Captain Hook:  simply by refusing to grow up.  We've proliferated and thrived because we never stop playing, and the way to cope with the increasing complexity of the wild new world is to play more.  Yet most of us adult humans tell ourselves that playing is "leisure time" activity, not to be confused with "productive work" nor taken to excess.  This will have to change as we adopt a new, Earth-healing consciousness.  In fact I think we'd be far better off if we did virtually nothing but play.  When I train coaches, I suggest that they eliminate the word "work" from their vocabulary and substitute "play" instead.  What I'm doing now is wordplay.  I try to play hard, and sometimes I play long hours.  Some people would say I play too much, but what can I say -- it plays for me..."

-- from Finding Your Way in a Wild New World, by Martha Beck