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Class Forums - Spring 2007

MIND 293 - Play as a Route to Insight, etc.

Just a Playful Note...

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Max Ehrman
Newcomer

1 Posts

Posted - Feb 12 2007 : 12:37:37 AM

We have discussed play in lots of forms in the course so far, but we haven’t discussed play as a medical prescription. As absurd as it may sound, (to me not half as absurd as some things we have discussed), play does have its medicinal qualities.

For example, I have been watching the TV show Lost on DVD this weekend and I just saw an episode in which everyone on the deserted island seems to be suffering from intense stress/anxiety. This is no doubt caused by the troubles associated with surviving a horrific plane crash and being lost on an island in the middle of the Pacific. Anyway, the stress of survival has resulted in disagreements, fights, and even rashes on some people.

One of the characters (Hurley, for those of you who are familiar withthe show) decides that the stress is not the greatest thing for everyone and that they all need something fun to do. Everybody tells him that survival is the only thing to worry about, and that diversion is just a waste of time. While everyone is busy getting more and more stressed, Hurley spends his time building a two-hole golf course in a meadow. Now what use is a golf course without clubs? C’mon, it's a TV show—you know someone packed golf clubs on the flight and they were of course intact after the plane disintegrated on the beach! So back to the course. The doctor, Jack, who seems to be the main character, decides that the golf course is a good idea even though he was the one who told Hurley it was a waste of time.

By the end of the episode, most of the survivors are either playing golf in the meadow or watching the game and taking bets. The result is an obvious atmosphere of mirth in an otherwise dangerous and stressful environment. Kate, another main character, even comments to Jack that she barely recognized him because he was smiling. Jack responds and says that playing golf was exactly what the people needed.

So long story short: even though this is from a TV show, it has some useful aspects. Play can be a good cure for what ails ya’. Don't take my word for it; go watch the show.

[Lightly edited to improve readability —TKT]

Chris Wheeler
Fledgling

11 Posts

Posted - May 02 2007 : 1:04:32 PM

First off, LOST is amazing!

I also think you’re on to something here. First, you can look at this as recreation’s being good for your soul. Play has evolved with technology, and some of you may think that technology has killed play. In fact, it has created new forms and encouraged play as a whole. Survival is not our main concern. Fun is what makes life worth living.

Also, I like the idea of where this came from. Not just because I like the show, but also because you are enjoying it, and at the same time finding some deeper meaning, or insight, through it. Very interesting.

[Lightly edited to improve readability —TKT]

Kristina Topolski
Fledgling

10 Posts

Posted - May 02 2007 : 9:33:04 PM

I think just stepping back from doing what it takes to survive and letting yourself lighten up does wonders. Play is what you do outside of your ordinary life. Of course these people don’t really live their ordinary lives anymore; instead their lives have become a constant struggle to survive. So they took a step out of that constant struggle to survive to “play.” And where did it get them? A whole lot less stress and maybe even some goofing around. Your example works great. I LOVE it!

[Lightly edited to improve readability —TKT]

Morgan Dacar
Newcomer

2 Posts

Posted - May 03 2007 : 1:30:00 PM

This is a great example. My boyfriend’s mom is a therapist and I have talked to her about this class a few times. From her experience and point of view, play is a necessity for life; without it we only survive. So in the show the people were so concerned with "surviving" that they weren't concerned with playing—which in turn means that they weren't concerned with “living.” Thinking about this made a quote from a song pop into my head (this happens to me a lot: I am a quote master—haha), which goes "Simply because you can breathe, doesn't mean you’re alive or that you really live." So I guess from all of this I want to say that playing makes life worth living so that instead of just surviving, we can really live.

[Lightly edited to improve readability —TKT]

Amanda Lucas
Fledgling

5 Posts

Posted - May 03 2007 : 2:26:00 PM

Is play indispensable to culture? If we did not have play, life would still be life.

Since we never had play we would not know how dull, uneventful and unexciting our lives were.

We only think life would suck without play because we know what it is like to not play and how it is not fun.

You don't know what you are missing until you have it and then have it taken away.

Chris Schermerhorn
Fledgling

7 Posts

Posted - May 03 2007 : 5:27:02 PM

I agree too. This is a good example. I have never seen the show but from the sound of it, the golf game really helped. Playing brings fun into life and for a brief moment makes it possible for one to let go of all the weights on one’s shoulders. These would include the pressure of society and even the fear of death.

[Lightly edited to improve readability —TKT]

Kit Peterson
Fledgling

14 Posts

Posted - May 04 2007 : 2:20:13 PM

I agree completely on this!

I used to own a horse, and the stable in which I kept her used to do horseback riding therapy for kids who were disabled. I was down there most of every day and I saw how the kids grew attached to the animals and how petting them, and playing with them helped them both mentally and physically. I remember one boy in particular who was paralyzed from the neck down. He had been in a horrible car accident, and all he wanted to do was brush his horse. It took him several months, but just by playing around with the brush and fiddling with his fingers, he eventually got enough strenghth in his hand to grip the brush and stroke it slowly on the horse. I don’t think that kid would have had the will power to go through all of that after all that he had been through, unless he had some kind of fun simulant to do something so important. I mean think about it: if he could do that, then he could possibly do more and regain some of the physical abilities that he had lost.

[Lightly edited to improve readability —TKT]

Tina Golovanoff
Fledgling

12 Posts

Posted - May 08 2007 : 1:05:22 PM

Oh—I totally agree!

[Lightly edited to improve readability —TKT]

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