The Dire Necessity for Play

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[Jana]

On writing this book Awakening the Bodymind: Transcending the Degenerative Complex, I discovered that the main method for overcoming the brain damage and actualizing undeveloped capacities from the last 10,000 years of our warlike history is humor, laughter and play.


HUMOR ~ THE CREATIVE ELIXIR OF LIFE

Our ability to respond playfully with our environment not only helps keep us from harm, but also makes the difference between life as repetitive drudgery and life as a continuous creative process. Humor and play simply reinstates the synergy of sublime balance. Life enhancing humor is the elixir of life. Cultivating a sense of the comedic can be an important coping strategy. Laughter and humor is an effective therapy for the body-brain function as well as mental health and emotional resilience—the ability to keep a level head in difficult circumstances and to close relationships. Cheerful people have a lighthearted interpersonal style that facilitates bonding closely with others and builds social support. Humor creates a psychic robustness that emotionally buffers people against crises and enables them to see silver linings in major disappointments.

 
The origins of laughter may have originated in primates as a universal signal of wellbeing in a playful situation to help regulate social interactions. The sense of contagious mimicry and empathy of positive emotions or laughter is expressed in the great apes as an essential part of their behavior. The mammalian brain is wired for rough-and-tumble play, as such activity as play fighting and tickling causes a rewarding endorphin rush. Play fighting releases brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF)—a protein that stimulates the growth of new neurons in “higher” brain areas involved in emotional reactions and social learning. Play is the major mechanism whereby higher regions of the brain get socialized, according to neuroscientist Jaak Panksepp of Washington State University. Most adult human laughter occurs during conversation (highly complex mental stimulus) without touching being involved. Vilayanur Ramachandran, professor of neuroscience at UC San Diego, calls laughter "nature's OK signal." Humor both heals and harmonizes and reminds us of our common humanity.

The highest form of intelligence is creativity, and one of the highest forms of creativity is humor. People with a great sense of humor tend to be more creative, as humor can help move toward solutions to tough problems, for both humor and creativity have elements of surprise and novelty. Humor involves the perception of incongruity or paradox in a playful context. The punch line in a joke is what Rod A Martin in The Psychology of Humor, calls a playful incongruity in a stimulus event. Creativity is enhanced by humor or other conditions that establish a playful, cheerful atmosphere which nurtures innovation. Those relaxed in the flow of spirit, rather than the vice of conditioning tend to be more creative, less rigid and more willing to consider and embrace new ideas and methods. Humor, laughter, fun and a playful attitude produces a frame of mind in which innovative solutions are most likely to occur.

Mirth and amusement light up the limbic system and prefrontal cortex to produce a cocktail of neurochemical and hormonal molecules that create changes throughout the autonomic nervous system and endocrine system. Changes biochemistry associated with laughter are: a decrease in stress hormones, an increase infection fighting anti-bodies and endorphins; mirth is associated with an increase in the sympathetic nervous system it improves attentiveness through an increase in adrenaline and noradrenaline; increases heart rate and skin conductance, eases anxiety, increases confidence and self esteem, improves coping ability and self-respect, alleviates depression. Humor may be a balm to stave off physical pain; its analgesic effect requires enjoyment but not necessarily laughter. Healthy effects on pleasure chemicals and the immune system occur with the mere “anticipation” of something positive. Just the expectation of a mirthful laughter experience boosts endorphins 27% and produces 87% more human growth hormone, compared to blood of a control group. 

Hearty laughter provides dopamine-like stimulation when bored and endorphin-induced relaxation when tense. Laughter elicits activation in the motor speech-production Broca’s area, which is involved in motor cognition and sequential cognition. The Broca’s area has played a crucial role in the evolution of the gestral basis for language and speech. There is also activation of the temporal–occipital junction and temporal pole, structures implicated in semantic knowledge and juxtaposition, and the inferior frontal gyrus, likely to be involved in language processing. Females, however, activate the left prefrontal cortex more than males, suggesting a greater degree of executive processing and language-based decoding. Females also exhibit greater activation of mesolimbic regions, including the nucleus accumbens, implying greater reward network response and possibly less reward expectation. Women are less likely to expect a joke to be funny, so there is a slight "processing" delay. Female dopaminergic systems are more responsive to funny situations, so emotionally stressful circumstances may elicit similar limbic sensitivity in the negative direction. This suggests that humor may lead to better treatment of depression, especially among women.

Creativity is essentially linked to the high frequency energies of awareness or soul which are supported by the strong self-preserving powers of the immune system. Laughter increases our natural “killer” cells (destroy tumors and invaders of our bodies such as viruses), as well as gamma-interferon (a disease-fighting protein), T-cells (the “sentries” of our immune system) and B-cells (these produce disease-fighting antibodies). In addition to lowering blood pressure, laughter gives your body a great workout and increases oxygen in the blood, which also encourages healing.  By lowering blood’s concentration of the stress hormone cortisol, laughter improves the immune system; this mechanism could conceivably help ward off disease.

Laughter builds up the prefrontal lobes so humor, because of its trickster element, is a great tool for establishing rationality. Happiness fires up the prefrontal lobes and so “play” naturally makes us more creative. Liberal lighting up of the norepinephrine neurons in the prefrontal lobes (Superego) during mirth must allow the whole brain to integrate, thereby suspending stress, anxiety and self-concern. In this way humor and our response to the comedic is one of the most profound instances of the Flow experience where we “lose ourselves in the moment.” It has also been suggested that noradrenaline (norepinephrine) is crucial in certain cognitive functions associated with the frontal lobes, particularly the prevention of distractibility by irrelevant stimuli  as in ADD and schizophrenia.

The integrity of the prefrontal cortex is critical for attention and the expression of working memory. With sufficient dopamine in the prefrontal cortex, people are able abstract and associate “context” for a thought, memory or behavior. With less dopamine, which is the case in aging adults and those with ADD, there is difficulty with attention, inhibition and memory. ADDH patients cannot normally activate prefrontal areas appropriately in response to cognitive tasks and executive functioning. But when treated with agents that activate the D1 dopamine receptors and or the alpha 2A adrenergic receptors in the prefrontal cortex, these individuals can then activate the appropriate areas and perform the tasks accurately. In those who are depressed the “safety memory” mechanism of the prefrontal lobes fail to adequately turn off nervous system activation, thereby chronically overworking the HPA axis/fear response and burning out the catecholamines, adrenals, cortisol and thyroid.

Richard J. Davidson, a prominent neuroscience professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison studied the effects of meditation on the brains of Tibetan monks. He found long-term meditators self-induce high amplitude gamma wave synchrony when asked to meditate on "unconditional loving-kindness and compassion." These powerful gamma brain waves oscillating at roughly 40 cycles per second, �indicated intensely focused thought. At 40 Hz oscillations from various parts of the cortex are synchronized; a phenomenon that sometimes occurs in patients under anesthesia. If meditation could enhance the brain's ability to produce attention and positive emotions, it might also be used to treat maladaptive affective responses like depression and anxiety disorders. The human body is extremely sensitive to electromagnetic (EM) fields. The field of the heart can be detected from a distance of 15 feet and the brain-field from 5 feet. Perhaps there is an EMF heart to brain connection which involves the 40 Hertz rhythm and that compassion (Gamma oscillation 40-100 Hz) amplifies this higher cognitive heart-brain functioning. The heart field can be thought of as the grand conductor of the symphony of the brain hemispheres, triune brain, spinal column and peripheral nervous system, and the parasympathetic and sympathetic autonomic nervous system. That is integration occurs through the field of the heart.

According to Dan Siegal in The Mindful Brain, mindfulness uses the same brain circuitry in the Middle Prefrontal Cortex as social engagement. Thus empathy and mindfulness are coexistant. Mindfulness is attunement to the inner world and empathy is attunement to the outer world…one cannot exist without the other, and so they co-evolve. Both forms of attunement promote the capacity for intimate relationships, social ease, resilience and well-being. In fact Siegal suggests that mindfulness is the single most important attribute to achieving happiness. Mindful self regulation is the seat of autonomy, sovereignty and cooperative living. Mindfulness is the perpetual embrace of novelty, which is the alpha and omega of a state of self-sufficiency and self-reliance. It is life without the brakes of inertia and hesitancy. When one is mindful of the body through interoceptive self-awareness this activates the parasympathetic nervous system whereby deeper, calming thought processes can occur. To be happy, that is to appreciate life we must be willing to deeply receive the pleasure of existence in its full measure.

Mindfulness not only engenders positive emotions but it allows us to embrace change by improving the neuroplasticity of the brain. Neuroplasticity refers to the fact that the brain is the organ that changes the most in response to experience of our environment. If we use the brain in the right way then it remains highly neuroplastic throughout our life. We can change our brain by changing our minds through systematic training. Play increases neuroplasticity through endorphin production and relaxation, allowing a more expansive parasympathetic consciousness. Endorphins create the visceral experience of flow, flexibility, pleasure, relaxation and connection. When the body relaxes and opens it resonates freely with the life-giving energy that pervades the cosmos, thus supporting health and spirituality.

Humor perception is correlated with increased activity in the left temporo-occipitoparietal junction and left prefrontal cortex and humor-associated smiling with bilateral activity in the basal temporal lobes. Unexpectedly, both conditions were also accompanied by a decrease in activity in the right orbitofrontal cortex. Appreciation and gratitude seems like a more left-brain affair, while worry seems more right-brain. Richard J. Davidson found that meditation can improve the ratio of activity in the left and right middle prefrontal cortex producing a noticeable shift toward activity in the left middle frontal gyrus (lMFG). This causes meditators to experience and appreciate positive experiences and become more proactive participants in creating a happy life. While subjects with high activity in the rMFG reported emotions such as worry, sadness, irritation and frustration and were more passive and victim oriented in their lives.

Lack of loving emotional regulation in the infant from insufficient mother-child bonding reduces the lush development of the connections between the right orbital complex and the limbic brain (Scaer) and interferes the perfection of the pleasure circuitry between the cerebellum and prefrontal lobes (Prescott). These attenuated neural networks mean that kindling in the amygdala and temporal lobes is more likely to occur since the control of emotion by the cortex is not as impactful as it would be in a brain that is developed under loving primal mothering. The result being that those who experienced neglect, trauma, abandonment in dysfunctional homes as a child are more likely to get epilepsy, seizures and kundalini awakenings.

The corpus callosum (CC) as the main interhemispheric fiber tract plays an important Apparently they used to think that the corpus callosum housed the soul
corpus meaning “body” in Latin, the corpus callosum is the part of the brain that connects both hemispheres. Laughter might be the emotional antidote to the self-shaming and self-rejection that causes the blockage of information transfer between the brain hemispheres. Laughter may thus be the key to increasing fluid communication between the hemispheres, such that the quiet creative, soulful right-hemisphere can more easily talk to the noisy dominating left-brain. Liberal communication between the hemispheres caused by heightened efficiency of the corpus callosum during conditions of high dopamine, adrenaline, noradrenaline and beta-endorphins may be one of the factors involved in the benefits of humor as a social activator and lubricator.

The “love chemical” phenylethylamine (PEA) and the “cuddle chemical” oxytocin may be two other neurotransmitters active in laughter and play that lead directly to heightened creativity. Considering that these two chemicals are increased during periods of new romantic love, and new romance is known for its inspiration, artistic muse, spontaneity novelty and change. These chemicals along with the sympathetic nervous system activators may be a powerful component in the “play” of animals of all ages. If this is so we can see how both skin touch, massage and exposure to attractive individuals may directly impact our level of creative genesis. Knowing this connection between play and creativity it would be advantageous to incorporate massage, contact sports, and Esalen Institute like tactile-sensoral group processes into the creative leadership and brainstorming sessions of businesses and institutions.

We can then see that in order to establish an egalitarian culture in which creativity can flourish, we need to ensure that humor is a founding property of the society, while pathological humor, shaming, exclusion, rejection and power-over tactics are not tolerated…and basically educated out of everyday use. Regarding the breaking open of the ego shell, this too doesn't need to be violent...it can be playful, nurturing and loving. In fact you just create more numbing ego armor from traumatic or abusive methods of ego dissolution. The limited self (ego) is only there in the first place as protection for the vulnerability of the soul in our negligent, harsh and often cruel social world. If play is fundamental to development, it stands to reason that play would be the most profound means of releasing the mask, armor and closure of conditioning (Borg). A play-deprived childhood disrupts the normal social, emotional and cognitive development in animals and humans, leaving us less able to cope and deal with the stresses of adult life. By continuing or relearning to engage in “free play” on into adulthood, we can stay buoyant in the flow of the stream of life and thrive.

The fruits of play include: inspiration, humor, imagination, creativity, Flow, novelty, evolution, spontaneity, intelligence, sensitivity, movement, joy, happiness, simplicity, social skills, relationship, better adjusted, lightness, surprise, innovation, openness, dexterity, freedom, stress relief, rhythm, wave, problem solving, cooperation.

Sartre said we cannot "choose" to be involved, we ARE involved. It all depends on how we play the game. With awareness we are free to “up our game” at any point in time. Freedom is realizing that we are in control of our perception and interpretation of reality…how we react, respond to, and interpret events. Creativity and individuation begins as we “play” with our experience to master the “art” of Flow in life. The evolutionary shift of our awareness as we “up our game” is the liberating insight that we are in the driver's seat, piloting our own craft and no longer at the mercy of circumstance. Our own personal stance in relation to circumstances literally alters our experience of those same circumstances. We then recognize that life is a process of continuous transformation, breaking through the confines of one box, feeling a newfound freedom, but eventually discovering one has simply entered a much roomier box. As the process of transformation becomes conscious we engage in individuation driven emergent co-creation of the Great Mystery.

Since play is healing, evolving, creative and of great value as an end in itself, we can rationalize the need for entirely inappropriate quantities of fun!!! Through play we claim our sovereignty, expedite our genius and celebrate our divinity. The term spirituality has become watered down so I thought of a new term...it is DIVINE PLAY! Divine Play is simply moving out of deprivation consciousness and into the innate abundance and unlimited potential of spirit in each and every moment. Friedrich Schiller said that Man is not fully human unless he is at play.

Visions of Compassion: Western Scientists and Tibetan Buddhists Examine Human Nature by Richard J. Davidson and Anne Harrington
The Plastic Mind: New science reveals our extraordinary potential to transform ourselves by Sharon Begley

[Francis]

Play by itself is unproductive. More to the point of the article; productivity without play has detrimental effects on the psyche. Taking ourselves too seriously and taking our circumstances too personally is toxic. This is because toxic fight-or-flight ‘humors’ build up, whereas laughter helps to relieve the tension and dissipate the toxins. I think Sapolsky would agree that we feel better after we laugh because we are better; less stewing in toxic stress chemicals. 

The certainty epidemic
We all seem convinced we're right about politics, religion or science these days. What makes us so sure of ourselves?
By Robert Burton
Feb. 29, 2008 | Certainty is everywhere. Fundamentalism is in full bloom. Legions of authorities cloaked in total conviction tell us why we should invade country X, ban "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" in schools, eat stewed tomatoes, how much brain damage is necessary to justify a plea of diminished capacity, the precise moment when a sperm and an egg must be treated as a human being, and why the stock market will revert to historical returns. A public change of mind is national news.
But why? Is this simply a matter of stubbornness, arrogance or misguided thinking, or is the problem more deeply rooted in brain biology? Since my early days in neurology training, I have been puzzled by this most basic of cognitive problems: What does it mean to be convinced? This question might sound foolish. You study the evidence, weigh the pros and cons, and make a decision. If the evidence is strong enough, you are convinced there is no other reasonable answer. Your resulting sense of certainty feels like the only logical and justifiable conclusion to a conscious and deliberate line of reasoning.
But modern biology is pointing in a different direction. It is telling us that despite how certainty feels, it is neither a conscious choice nor even a thought process. Certainty and similar states of "knowing what we know" arise out of primary brain mechanisms that, like love or anger, function independently of rationality or reason. Feeling correct or certain isn't a deliberate conclusion or conscious choice. It is a mental sensation that happens to us.
The importance of being aware that certainty has involuntary neurological roots cannot be overstated. If science can shame us into questioning the nature of conviction, we might develop some degree of tolerance and an increased willingness to consider alternative ideas -- from opposing religious or scientific views to contrary opinions at the dinner table.
I call the mental sensation of certainty the "feeling of knowing." Everyone is familiar with the most commonly recognized feeling of knowing. When asked a question, you feel strongly that you know an answer that you cannot immediately recall. Psychologists refer to this easily recognizable feeling as a tip-of-the-tongue sensation. The frequent accompanying comment as you scan your mental Rolodex for the forgotten name or phone number is: "I know it but I just can't think of it." You are aware of knowing something, without knowing exactly what this sensation refers to. The most profound feeling of knowing is the "aha," a spontaneous notification from a subterranean portion of our mind, an involuntary all-clear signal that we have grasped the heart of a problem. It isn't just that we can solve the problem; we "know" that we understand it.
To understand what I mean about the feeling of knowing, read the following paragraph at normal speed. Don't skim, give up halfway through or skip to the explanation. Because this experience can't be duplicated once you know the explanation, take a moment to ask yourself how you feel about the paragraph. After reading the clarifying word, reread the paragraph. As you do, pay close attention to the shifts in your mental state and your feeling about the paragraph:
A newspaper is better than a magazine. A seashore is a better place than the street. At first it is better to run than to walk. You may have to try several times. It takes some skill but it is easy to learn. Even young children can enjoy it. Once successful, complications are minimal. Birds seldom get too close. Rain, however, soaks in very fast. Too many people doing the same thing can also cause problems. One needs lots of room. If there are no complications it can be very peaceful. A rock will serve as an anchor. If things break loose from it, however, you will not get a second chance.
Is this paragraph comprehensible or meaningless? Feel your mind sort through potential explanations. Now watch what happens with the presentation of a single word: kite.
In an instant, you are flooded with the "aha" feeling that the paragraph makes sense. There's no time for deep consideration and evaluation. Before you can reread the paragraph, your unconscious mind has already sorted through various possibilities, determined that the sentences collectively fit the description of a kite and sent you notification.
Determining how this involuntary feeling of knowing happens takes us into the enormously complicated details of neurobiology. To simplify them for this discussion, let me borrow a term, "hidden layer," from the artificial intelligence community.
By mimicking the way the brain processes information, A.I. scientists have been able to build artificial neural networks (ANNs) that can play chess and poker, read faces, recognize speech and recommend books at Amazon.com. While standard computer programs work line by line, yes or no, all eventualities programmed in advance, the ANN takes an entirely different approach. The ANN is based upon mathematical programs that are initially devoid of any specific values. The programmers only provide the equations; incoming information determines how connections are formed and how strong each connection will be in relationship to all other connections. There is no predictable solution to a problem -- rather, as one connection changes, so do all the others. These shifting interrelationships are the basis for "learning."
With an ANN, the hidden layer is conceptually located within the interrelationships between all the incoming information and the mathematical code used to process it. In the human brain, the hidden layer doesn't exist as a discrete interface or specific anatomic structure; rather, it resides within the connections between all neurons involved in any neural network. A network can be relatively localized or widely distributed throughout the brain. Proust's taste of a madeleine triggered a memory that involved visual, auditory, olfactory and gustatory cortices -- the multisensory cortical representations of a complex memory. With a sufficiently sensitive fMRI scan, we would see all these areas lighting up when Proust contemplated the madeleine.
The hidden layer thus offers a powerful metaphor for the way the brain processes information. It is in the hidden layer that all elements of biology (from genetic predispositions to neurotransmitter variations and fluctuations) and all past experience, whether remembered or long forgotten, affect the processing of incoming information. It is the interface between incoming sensory data and a final perception, the anatomic crossroad where nature and nurture intersect. It is why your red is not my red, your idea of beauty isn't mine, why eyewitnesses offer differing accounts of an accident or why we don't all put our money on the same roulette number.
The powerful feeling of knowing arises out of the hidden layer's unconscious calculation of correctness, be it recognizing a face or believing an idea is right. The greater the likelihood of correctness, as determined by your unconscious, the stronger the sense of certainty.
In his bestselling "Blink," New Yorker staff writer Malcolm Gladwell describes gut feelings as "perfectly rational," as "thinking that moves a little faster and operates a little more mysteriously" than conscious thought. But he's flying in the face of present-day understanding of brain behavior. Gut feelings and intuitions, the Eureka moment and our sense of conviction, represent the conscious experiences of unconsciously derived feelings.
Look at the feeling of knowing in the light of evolution. It explains how we learn. Compare it with the body's various sensory systems. It is through sight and sound that we are in contact with the world around us. Similarly, we have extensive sensory functions for assessing our interior milieu. When our body needs food, we feel hunger. When we are dehydrated and require water, we feel thirsty. If we have sensory systems to connect us with the outside world, and sensory systems to notify us of our internal bodily needs, it seems reasonable that we would also have a sensory system to tell us what our minds are doing.
To be aware of thinking, we need a sensation that tells us that we are thinking. To reward learning, we need feelings of being on the right track, or of being correct. And there must be similar feelings to reward and encourage the as-yet unproven thoughts -- the idle speculations and musings that will become useful new ideas.
To be an effective, powerful reward, the feeling of conviction must feel like a conscious and deliberate conclusion. As a result, the brain has developed a constellation of mental sensations that feel like thoughts but aren't. These involuntary and uncontrollable feelings are the mind's sensations; as sensations they are subject to a wide variety of perceptual illusions common to all sensory systems. Understanding this couldn't be more important to our sense of ourselves and the world around us.
It's not easy, of course, but somehow we must incorporate what neuroscience is telling us about the limits of knowing into our everyday lives. We must accept that how we think isn't entirely within our control. Perhaps the easiest solution would be to substitute the word "believe" for "know." A physician faced with an unsubstantiated gut feeling might say, "I believe there's an effect despite the lack of evidence," not, "I'm sure there's an effect." And yes, scientists would be better served by saying, "I believe that evolution is correct because of the overwhelming evidence."
I realize that this last sentence runs against the grain of those who have fought the hardest to establish science as the method for determining the facts of the external world. It is particularly loathsome when you feel that you are playing into the hands of religious fanatics, medical quacks and word-twisting politicians. But in pointing out the biological limits of reason, including scientific thought, I'm not making the case that all ideas are equal or that scientific method is mere illusion. My purpose is not to destroy the foundations of science, but only to point out the inherent limitations of the questions that science asks and the answers it provides.
Substituting believe for know doesn't negate scientific knowledge; it only shifts a hard-earned fact from being unequivocal to being highly likely. Saying that evolution is extremely likely rather than absolutely certain doesn't reduce the strength of the argument, and at the same time it serves a more fundamental purpose. Hearing myself saying "I believe" where formerly I would have said "I know" serves as a constant reminder of the limits of knowledge and objectivity. At the same time as I am forced to consider the possibility that contrary opinions might have a grain of truth, I am provided with the perfect rebuttal for those who claim that they "know that they are right." It is in the leap from 99.99999 percent likely to 100 percent guaranteed that we give up tolerance for conflicting opinions, and provide the basis for the fundamentalist's claim to pure and certain knowledge.
A related consideration is to distinguish between felt knowledge -- such as hunches and gut feelings -- and knowledge that arises out of empiric testing. Any idea that either hasn't been or isn't capable of being independently tested should be considered a personal vision. Shakespeare does not demand that we accept Hamlet as representing a universal truth. We agree and judge him according to the standards of art, literature and personal experience. Hamlet is neither right nor wrong. If in the future, Hamlet is found to have a gene for bipolar disorder, we are entitled to reassess our initial interpretations of Hamlet's relationship to his mother. Hamlet is a vision. No matter how seemingly reasonable and persuasive, each begins with a very idiosyncratic perception that seeks its own reflection in the external world. Each writer's personal sense of purpose drives the arguments, picks out the evidence and draws conclusions. Such ideas should be judged accordingly -- as visions, not as obligatory lines of reasoning that must be universally shared.
To retreat from claims of absolute "knowing" and certainty, popular psychology needs to explore how mental sensations play a fundamental role in generating and shaping our thoughts. We can't afford to continue with the outdated claims of a perfectly rational unconscious or knowing when we can trust gut feelings. We need to rethink the very nature of a thought, including the recognition of how various perceptual limitations are inevitable.
At the same time, if the goal of science is to gradually overcome deeply embedded superstition, it must be seen as a more attractive and comforting alternative, not as inflammatory exhortation and confrontation with a none-too-subtle whiff of condescension. Try to peddle the vision of a cold, pointless world at a Pentecostal revival meeting and you have an inkling of the challenge. In a recent survey, nearly 90 percent of Americans expressed the belief that their souls will survive the death of their bodies and ascend to heaven. Such beliefs, no matter how counter to the evidence, provide the majority of Americans with a personal sense of meaning. If forced to choose between reason and a sense of purpose, most of us would side with purpose. This apparent choice isn't even an entirely conscious decision. If science hasn't yet made a dent in such beliefs, it seems unlikely that further efforts will miraculously turn the tide.
Such discussions pose the same ethical problems inherent in placebo treatments. Simply put, a placebo effect is a false belief that has real value. To insist that there is no soul or afterlife is the moral equivalent of taking away the placebo effect arising out of an unscientific belief. Studies have shown that sham arthroscopic surgery can allow some patients to walk comfortably again. No one should recommend sham knee surgery, yet many physicians are comfortable recommending less drastic but unproven treatments for pain.
The answer lies in a personal risk-reward calculation -- how to provide comfort without undue side effects or cost. But the intentional use of a placebo comes at a cost. Even without side effects or excessive cost, the precedent of falsely representing benefits of a treatment has its own long-term undesirable effects. The most serious would be the erosion of trust between the physician and patient. On the other hand, eliminating all placebo treatments because they are intellectually dishonest raises its own set of problems, including the cynical zeitgeist of valuing science over compassion. There isn't an easy solution or right answer; each of us will calculate the risk versus reward according to our own biology and experience.
In medicine, we are increasingly developing ethical standards for complex medical decisions that allow for hope and the placebo effect, yet don't fly in the face of evidence-based medical knowledge. The guiding principle of the Hippocratic oath is primum no nocerum -- above all, do no harm. This same principle should be a cornerstone of how science competes in the world of ideas. Science needs to maintain its integrity while it retains compassionate respect for aspects of human nature that aren't "reasonable."
This balance of opposites extends to all aspects of modern thought. For example, it doesn't make sense to ask someone if he'd like to take a placebo; the very question strips the placebo of much of its intended benefit. Similarly, it isn't clear how to have a reasonable discussion on the nature of the self that both maintains the integrity of science -- the self is an emergent phenomenon and not some separately existing entity -- and allows each of us to feel that we are individuals and not mere machinery. I cannot imagine a world in which we fully accepted and felt that we were nothing more than fictional narratives arising out of "mindless" neurons. And I cannot imagine how much empathy we would have with others if we saw disappointment, love and grief solely as chemical reactions. Faced with this chilling interpretation of our lives, it isn't surprising that most people opt for the belief in material "souls" and/or anticipate that real live virgins are patiently awaiting their arrival in heaven.
F. Scott Fitzgerald described an easy-to-accept but difficult-to-accomplish solution: "The test of a first rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function." This juggling act requires us to keep in mind what science is telling us about ourselves while acknowledging the positive benefits of nonscientific or unreasonable beliefs. Each opposing position has its own risks and rewards; both need to be considered and balanced within the overarching mandate -- above all, do no harm.
Just as we learn to cope with the anxieties of sickness and death, we must learn to tolerate contradictory aspects of our biology. Our minds have their own agendas. We can intervene through greater understanding of what we can and cannot control, by knowing where potential deceptions lurk, and by a willingness to accept that our knowledge of the world around us is limited by fundamental conflicts in how our minds work.
Which leads us back to the beginning. Certainty is not biologically possible. We must learn (and teach our children) to tolerate the unpleasantness of uncertainty. Science has given us the language and tools of probabilities. That is enough. We do not need and cannot afford the catastrophes born out of a belief in certainty.
From "On Being Certain" by Robert A. Burton, M.D. © 2008 by the author and reprinted by permission of St. Martin's Press.

[Jana]

Non-productive play is escapism...it is the domain of slave consciousness. As such this distracting, avoidance, pretend kind of play is the main type we know how to engage in. As we move into self-licensing and authority we engage in divine play in all moments of our life...not as a holiday from the stress, boredom and meaninglessness of our lives...but as a matter of fact actualization of our inherent nature.

Fundamentalism is in full bloom. Orthodoxy is the disease of the resistant ego that refuses greater expansion and ineffable truth. We are in a certainty epidemic because the machine mind cannot hold paradox comfortably without stress. So to avoid evolving to the next stage of lucid multiplex reasoning, we instead cling to our lower energy condition of emotional and prerational certainty. This is the same impulse as a weak syphocant siding with a powerful leader…we seek out the idea that gives us the most egoic power and stick with it beyond reasonable doubt. Thus our certainty is born of frailty, instability, disempowerment and lack of a solid witnessing core self that knows it is not its thoughts or ideas.

AWESOME EXAMPLE OF SANITY
• www.youtube.com/user/soundlessdawn  —Synchromysticism, Steve Willner
http://labyrinthofthepsychonaut.blogspot.com/  —Steve Willner‘s  Blog
Awesome interviews with Steve Willner on youtube: “Freezone with Steve Willner – part 1” and www.redicecreations.com/radio/2008/09sep/RICR-080914-swillner.mp3

[jimtzu]

Play is a state of mind.  work can be play, life can be play, it all depends on how you approach it.  taking things seriously enough to not take them seriously. it all sounds like semantics, but that in itself is play (puns, wordplay).  and of course, play, like sex, becomes work if you're not doing it right, and then, what do you have left?   

[Francis]

There's a certain unguarded quality to the state of mind. Perhaps like G. Leonards concept of 'soft eyes' where we are relaxing our focus and letting things just happen. The state requires a feeling of safety, letting the guard down and abandoning hyper-vigilance. A feeling that our ultimate safety and security are not at stake. All these are the antedotes for the problems Sapolsky points to.

[Jana]

TENETS OF DIVINE PLAY

1. A Priori Causal State—You are the cause of your feelings, thoughts and emotions. Awareness of self-origination is the heart of mindfulness.
2. Wakefulness—Mindfulness is how you maintain the vital edge of your daily play and prevent the contagion of unhappy thoughts and experiences.
3. Good-Will—First do no harm is a basic play rule that goes along with the Golden Rule. Do no harm in thought, word or deed and you up-spiral your energy and love.
4. Open Ended Desire—Wish for the “best outcome ever” rather than sticking to a tight action plan, for we cannot anticipate the exact course of events and must remain open to the changing hologram of the unfolding world.
5. Equinimity—If the metamorphic process proceeds with adequate grace, then the Percival Heart is born, or the Heart that is radiant and open irrespective of external conditions.
6. Nonduality—The Percival or Open Heart is your navigator. Thus your compass must be unguarded, void of paranoia, soft, furry and good-willing in order to meet its happy mark.
7. Molting—Off load all that is keeping you from the vital edge of divine play so you can accumulate momentum and keep pace with the speed of spirit’s evolution.
8. Choice—You get to play whatever role in your movie you want. You also get to write and direct your movie; plus you are the financier and the audience…so enjoy because it is “your” movie!
9. Discernment—In moving out of victimhood (its all done to me) we must realize our role in the creation of "difficulty" and work to change our energy to up-spiral pro-director.
10. Veil of Perception—Our lens of perception (energetic state) is more important than perceived circumstances, thus we must fast, run, get bodywork, meditate, do Inner Arts, yoga, climb a mountain etc to reinstate our evolutionary (up-spiral) energy.
11. Embrace Reality—Difficulty presents the greatest growth opportunity. Nothing is insurmountable if we approach it in positive-play and without fear…continually learning and creating with the hologram.
12. Beginner’s Mind—To keep a plastic brain, we must realize the plastic nature of reality and yield not to habit, but turn towards the spontaneous joyous unfoldment of creation.
13. Vigor of the New—By becoming a novelty seeker we continue to learn throughout our lives and remain young and innocent at heart. Divine Play is the elixir of youth.
14. Self as Source—Fill up on your own love first, for feeding from the world while in the deprivation state just makes us more hungry, lost and bereft of meaning.
15. Nirvana Now—At all times Universe is conspiring to awaken us to unity consciousness. So we might as well surrender to Nirvana Now, for Nirvana can only be known Now, regardless of where or how we find ourselves.

[Francis]

I would think that a deliberate lack of structure is the key to getting the benefit. That way, there is no posssibility of doing it 'wrong' - Rule No. 1: There are no rules.

Scientific American Mind -  January 28, 2009

The Serious Need for Play
Free, imaginative play is crucial for normal social, emotional and cognitive development. It makes us better adjusted, smarter and less stressed
By Melinda Wenner

On August 1, 1966, the day psychiatrist Stuart Brown started his assistant professorship at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, 25-year-old Charles Whitman climbed to the top of the University of Texas Tower on the Austin campus and shot 46 people. Whitman, an engineering student and a former U.S. Marine sharpshooter, was the last person anyone expected to go on a killing spree. After Brown was assigned as the state’s consulting psychiatrist to investigate the incident and later, when he interviewed 26 convicted Texas murderers for a small pilot study, he discovered that most of the killers, including Whitman, shared two things in common: they were from abusive families, and they never played as kids.

Brown did not know which factor was more important. But in the 42 years since, he has interviewed some 6,000 people about their childhoods, and his data suggest that a lack of opportunities for unstructured, imaginative play can keep children from growing into happy, well-adjusted adults. “Free play,” as scientists call it, is critical for becoming socially adept, coping with stress and building cognitive skills such as problem solving. Research into animal behavior confirms play’s benefits and establishes its evolutionary importance: ultimately, play may provide animals (including humans) with skills that will help them survive and reproduce.

Most psychologists agree that play affords benefits that last through adulthood, but they do not always agree on the extent to which a lack of play harms kids—particularly because, in the past, few children grew up without ample frolicking time. But today free play may be losing its standing as a staple of youth. According to a paper published in 2005 in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, children’s free-play time dropped by a quarter between 1981 and 1997. Concerned about getting their kids into the right colleges, parents are sacrificing playtime for more structured activities. As early as preschool, youngsters’ after-school hours are now being filled with music lessons and sports—reducing time for the type of imaginative and rambunctious cavorting that fosters creativity and cooperation.

A handful of studies support Brown’s conviction that a play-deprived childhood disrupts normal social, emotional and cognitive development in humans and animals. He and other psychologists worry that limiting free play in kids may result in a generation of anxious, unhappy and socially maladjusted adults. “The consequence of a life that is seriously play-deprived is serious stuff,” Brown says. But it is never too late to start: play also promotes the continued mental and physical well-being of adults.

Worries over the demise of play began surfacing as far back as 1961, when the International Play Association was founded in Denmark to protect, preserve and promote play as a fundamental right for all children. But the idea became more popular a little over a decade ago, when many more nonprofit foundations—such as the National Institute for Play in Carmel Valley, Calif., started by Brown, and other organizations, including the Alliance for Childhood and the Association for the Study of Play—began forming around the globe to promote the value of play and  to raise concerns over its demise.

Freedom Counts
But kids play soccer, Scrabble and the sousaphone—so why are experts concerned that these games and more structured activities are eating into free play? Certainly games with rules are fun and sources of learning experiences—they may foster better social skills and group cohesion, for instance, says Anthony D. Pellegrini, an educational psychologist at the University of Minnesota. But, Pellegrini explains, “games have a priori rules—set up in advance and followed. Play, on the other hand, does not have a priori rules, so it affords more creative responses.”

This creative aspect is key because it challenges the developing brain more than following predetermined rules does. In free play, kids use their imagination and try out new activities and roles.

The child initiates and creates free play. It might involve fantasies—such as pretending to be doctors or princesses or playing house—or it might include mock fighting, as when kids (primarily boys) wrestle and tumble with one another for fun, switching roles periodically so that neither of them always wins. And free play is most similar to play seen in the animal kingdom, suggesting that it has important evolutionary roots. Gordon M. Burghardt, author of The Genesis of Animal Play, spent 18 years observing animals to learn how to define play: it must be repetitive—an animal that nudges a new object just once is not playing with it—and it must be voluntary and initiated in a relaxed setting. Animals and children do not play when they are undernourished or in stressful situations. Most essential, the activity should not have an obvious function in the context in which it is observed—meaning that it has, essentially, no clear goal.

Face Time
How do these seemingly pointless activities benefit kids? Perhaps most crucially, play appears to help us develop strong social skills. “You don’t become socially competent via teachers telling you how to behave,” Pellegrini says. “You learn those skills by interacting with your peers, learning what’s acceptable, what’s not acceptable.” Children learn to be fair and take turns—they cannot always demand to be the fairy queen, or soon they have no playmates. “They want this thing to keep going, so they’re willing to go the extra mile” to accommodate others’ desires, he explains. Because kids enjoy the activity, they do not give up as easily in the face of frustration as they might on, say, a math problem—which helps them develop persistence and negotiating abilities.

Keeping things friendly requires a fair bit of communication—arguably the most valuable social skill of all. Play that transpires with peers is the most important in this regard. Studies show that children use more sophisticated language when playing with other children than when playing with adults. In pretend play, for instance, “they have to communicate about something that’s not physically present, so they have to use complicated language in such a way that they can communicate to their peer what it is that they’re trying to say,” Pellegrini explains. For example, kids can’t get away with just asking, “Vanilla or chocolate?” as they hand a friend an imaginary cone. They have to provide contextual clues: “Vanilla or chocolate ice cream: Which one would you like?” Adults, on the other hand, fill in the blanks themselves, making things easier for kids.

If play helps children become socialized, then lack of play should impede social development—and studies suggest that it does. According to a 1997 study of children living in poverty and at high risk of school failure, published by the High/Scope Educational Research Foundation in Ypsilanti, Mich., kids who enrolled in play-oriented preschools are more socially adjusted later in life than are kids who attended play-free preschools where they were constantly instructed by teachers. By age 23, more than one third of kids who had attended instruction-oriented preschools had been arrested for a felony as compared with fewer than one tenth of the kids who had been in play-oriented preschools. And as adults, fewer than 7 percent of the play-oriented preschool attendees had ever been suspended from work, but more than a quarter of the directly instructed kids had.

Animal studies lend support to the idea that play deprivation leads to poor social skills. According to a study published in 1999 in Behavioural Brain Research, rats that are kept isolated during the two weeks of development when they most frequently play—the fourth and fifth weeks after birth—are much less socially active when they later encounter other rats as compared with rats that are not isolated during the same two-week period. And a study published in Developmental Psychobiology in 2002 revealed that male rats reared in isolation during their youth fail to display normal avoidance behaviors when introduced to dominant male rats that repeatedly attack them. Could play deprivation specifically cause these behavioral problems—or could social isolation in general have been the culprit?

Another study suggests that play promotes neural development in “higher” brain areas involved in emotional reactions and social learning. Scientists reported in 2003 that play fighting releases brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF)—a protein that stimulates the growth of new neurons—in these regions. The researchers allowed 13 control rats to play freely with companions for three and a half days and kept 14 other rats isolated for the same period. On examining the rats’ brains, the researchers found that the cortex, hippocampus, amygdala and pons of the rats that had played contained much higher levels of BDNF than those of the rats that had not. “I think play is the major mechanism whereby higher regions of the brain get socialized,” says Washington State University neuroscientist Jaak Panksepp, who co-authored the study.

Stress Relief
Research suggests that play is also critical for emotional health, possibly because it helps kids work through anxiety and stress. In a 1984 study published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, researchers assessed the anxiety levels of 74 three- and four-year-old children on their first day of preschool as indicated by their behavior—whether they pleaded, whined and begged their parents to stay—and how much their palms were sweating. Based on the researchers’ observations, they labeled each child as either anxious or not anxious. They then randomly split the 74 kids into four groups. Half of the kids were escorted to rooms full of toys, where they played either alone or with peers for 15 minutes; the other half were told to sit at a small table either alone or with peers and listen to a teacher tell a story for 15 minutes.

Afterward, the kids’ levels of distress were assessed again. The anxiety levels of the anxious kids who had played had dropped by more than twice as much as compared with the anxious kids who had listened to the story. (The kids who were not anxious to begin with stayed about the same.) Interestingly, those who played alone calmed down more than the ones who played with peers. The researchers speculate that through imaginative play, which is most easily initiated alone, children build fantasies that help them cope with difficult situations.

Animal studies also support the idea that play helps to alleviate stress—a concept known in neuroscience as social buffering. In a study published in 2008, Gettysburg College neuroscientist Stephen Siviy put rats into a chamber by themselves and exposed them to a collar previously worn by a cat, which made them visibly anxious. Later, the chamber was cleaned so it no longer smelled of the cat, the rats were put back in without the cat collar, and the rats immediately became anxious again, probably because they associated the space with the cat. But if Siviy and his colleagues then introduced another rat into the chamber—one that had never been exposed to the cat collar and was not afraid—the two would begin playing by chasing each other, tumbling and pretend fighting. And shortly thereafter, the first rat would relax and become calm, suggesting that play helped the rat to lessen its anxiety.

Play to the Head of the Class
Relieving stress and building social skills may seem to be obvious benefits of play. But research hints at a third, more counterintuitive area of influence: play actually appears to make kids smarter. In a classic study published in Developmental Psychology in 1973, researchers divided 90 preschool children into three groups. One group was told to play freely with four common objects—among the choices were a pile of paper towels, a screwdriver, a wooden board and a pile of paper clips. A second set was asked to imitate an experimenter using the four objects in common ways. The last group was told to sit at a table and draw whatever they wanted, without ever seeing the objects. Each scenario lasted 10 minutes. Immediately afterward, the researchers asked the children to come up with ideas for how one of the objects could be used. The kids who had played with the objects named, on average, three times as many nonstandard, creative uses for the objects than the youths in either of the other two groups did, suggesting that play fosters creative thinking.

Play fighting also improves problem solving. According to a paper published by Pellegrini in 1989, the more elementary school boys engaged in rough-housing, the better they scored on a test of social problem solving. During the test, researchers presented kids with five pictures of a child trying to get a toy from a peer and five pictures of a child trying to avoid being reprimanded by his mother. The subjects were then asked to come up with as many possible solutions to each social problem; their score was based on the variety of strategies they mentioned, and children who play-fought regularly tended to score much better.

Pellegrini does question, however, how much cause and effect one can glean from these studies. “What does play do? Is it the vanguard of learning something—so does play precede those sorts of skills—or is it merely practice or consolidation of skills that are already developing?” he asks. Although no one knows, “either way, at some level, it would be beneficial,” he concludes.

Does lack of play, then, impede the development of problem-solving skills? Perhaps, according to animal studies. In a paper published in Developmental Psychobiology in 1978, experimenters separated young rats by mesh partitions—they could see, smell and hear other rats but could not play with them—for the 20 days during development when they would have most frequently played. The researchers taught these rats, and a group that had been allowed to play without constraints, to pull a rubber ball out of the way to get a food treat. A few days later they switched the setup so the rats would have to push the same ball to get the treat. The isolated rats took much longer to try new approaches, and thus solve the problem, than did the rats that had played. The authors speculate that through play, animals learn to try new things, and animals that do not play simply do not acquire this same behavioral flexibility.

Playing also appears to help with language development, according to a 2007 study in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. Researchers at the University of Washington gave a box of toy blocks to children from middle- and low-income families aged 18 months to two and a half years. Parents of these kids, as well as parents of a similar group of kids who had no blocks, kept track of how often the children played. After six months, the kids who had played with blocks scored significantly higher on language tests than the others did. The researchers are not sure, however, whether these improvements resulted from playing with blocks per se—because by playing with blocks, the youngsters were spending less time in unproductive activities such as watching television.

But why might play help kids excel? Animal researchers believe that play serves as a kind of training for the unexpected. “Play is like a kaleidoscope,” says evolutionary biologist Marc Bekoff of the University of Colorado at Boulder, in that it is random and creative. The bottom line, he posits, is that play encourages flexibility and crea­tivity that may, in the future, be advantageous in unexpected situations or new environments. Some child psychologists, such as Tufts University child development expert David Elkind, agree. Play is “a way in which children learn,” Elkind says, “and in the absence of play, children miss learning experiences.”

Let Loose
If play is so crucial, what happens to children who are not playing enough? Ultimately, no one knows—but many psychologists are worried. Because play is somewhat risky—animals that are not alert and watchful are at risk of being attacked by predators—it probably evolved and persists because it confers survival advantages. “If it wasn’t important, it wouldn’t have evolved in its elaborate form,” Bekoff says.

Indeed, evidence indicates that play is evolutionarily quite ancient. Rats that have had their neocortex removed—a large brain region that is involved in higher-order thinking such as conscious thought and decision making—still engage in normal play, which suggests that play motivation comes from the brain stem, a structure that precedes the evolution of mammals. “This means that the core, genetically-provided circuitry for play is situated in very ancient regions of the brain,” explains Panksepp, who led the experiment in 1994.

Of course, many parents today believe they are acting in their kids’ best interests when they swap free play for what they see as valuable learning activities. Some mothers and fathers may also hesitate to let their kids play outside unattended, and they may fret about the possibility of the scrapes and broken bones that sometimes arise during play fighting or rambunctious fantasy play, says Sergio M. Pellis, a behavioral neuroscientist at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta. Although those instincts are natural, protecting kids “simply defrays those costs to later, when those same children will have difficulty in dealing with an unpredictable, complex world,” Pellis says. “A child who has had a rich exposure to social play experiences is more likely to become an adult who can manage unpredictable social situations.”

Parents should let children be children—not just because it should be fun to be a child but because denying youth’s unfettered joys keeps kids from developing into inquisitive, creative creatures, Elkind warns. “Play has to be reframed and seen not as an oppo­site to work but rather as a complement,” he says. “Curiosity, imagination and creativity are like muscles: if you don’t use them, you lose them.”

[Jana]

There are various rules of engagement though that correspond to positive play. The more one plays consciously, the more these basic social codes move from a neutral "first do no harm" to a proactive collective uplift. Training the Mind by Trungpa is a good social rule book.

Yea I used that article in my piece, thanks.

16. Patience—As we accumulate the momentum of divine play we need understanding and patience when encountering the time lag in actually manifesting a changed life from our changed beliefs and new intentions.
17. Adventure—Through adventure we find our edge and put us in various new and risky situations that quicken spiritual metabolism. Adventure means facing challenge and so real life skills are learnt and we evolve by living out our hero’s journey.
18. Celebration— The old must die for the new to be reborn, so the highs and lows of happenstance should be celebrated equally. The art of play celebrates and savors the intricate flavors of all experience as the fastest route beyond the prison of self-centric ego.

[Francis]

"Play is something in which the goal is not at all involved.The very being together is beautiful! for the sheer joy of it! In a better world, with more understanding, games will disappear - there will only be play." From Osho's Tarot Deck
 
More:
"There cannot be any map to the land of playfulness. All maps lead to seriousness. Playfulness is when all maps have been burnt down. There is no way to playfulness, because playfulness is not a goal and cannot be a goal. When you forget about goals, when you are not going anywhere, when the very idea of going is dropped, then herenow playfulness starts growing in you, happening in you.
Playfulness is not then and there: it is herenow. So how can there be a road-map? You are not to go: you are just to be.
Seriousness is goal-oriented. And even when a serious person starts playing, he transforms the quality of the play -- it becomes a game; it is no more play.
That is the difference between a game and a play. When a play becomes serious, it becomes a game.
People go to see wrestling, people go to see bull-fights or American football -- ugly, violent, inhuman. The people who are going to see these things are immature, a little perverted too. The spectators are as ungrown as the gladiators. And both are in some way catharting; in the name of the game, they are throwing their rubbish, they are simply vomiting their violence.
This is a very violent, violent world! That's why love cannot exist here. When human beings will really be human beings, things like bullfighting and wrestling will be unheard of, they will become part of history. Just to imagine that thousands of people have come to see a bullfight looks so ugly, disgusting. But people are serious. They change the play also into seriousness.
A play is something in which a goal is not at all concerned. The very being together is beautiful! for the sheer joy of it! In a better world, with more understanding, games will disappear -- there will only be plays. There will be nobody as a winner, nobody as the defeated -- because the very idea of defeating and winning is inhuman. There is no NEED for it! Why can't we enjoy the sheer togetherness? There should be no counting, no marking. There should not be any result out of it.
If you are in love with playing football, play football! Just play it! Don't look for the result. If the result comes in, you become serious, the play is destroyed; it has become almost businesslike. Enjoy the sheer outpour of energy. Enjoy the moment -- don't sacrifice it for anything else.

Osho,

[Jana]

Ah yes Osho, the master of play.
Perhaps that is why the US Govt. killed him...a man who knows how to play is a dangerous thing to the Borg of control.

The notion of play being open-ended and without agenda is important. For when flowing spirit in free form you don't know where you are going to end up, but it is likely to be far more fruitful and enlightening that merely following the repetitive patterns of the known personality.

Perhaps the ultimate teacher of play was Luke Reinhart...(I see he has a book out on EST)
www.lukerhinehart.net/

Our adaptive personality is largely forms of manipulation, adaptation, control and default build in reaction to unhealthy family and social conditions. That is we are what people are what people have made of us, until we break out of our known self.

If 20 people would give us a list of twelve choices for various activities...we could compose a Diceman book in order to throw dice and live out experiences dreamed up from other "personalities" that way at least our madness would have more color and change.

My Possible Choices:
1. Hug the boss and give him a rose of gratitude.
2. Climb a mountain and yell out I love you 20 times at the top.
3. Talk to an attractive person of the opposite sex in a coffee shop.
4. Wear a extremely bright exuberant outfit for a day.
5. Write to your mum apologizing for being such a bad child.
6. Jump into a town fountain in your underwear.
7. Go to a nightclub dressed like a vampire.
8. Give a box of chocolates to an old woman.
9. Roll down a hillside and jump in a river.
10. Fast for a month and meditate on freedom every day.
11. Go for a walk and flip a coin, heads-left, tails-right.
12. Get a radical hair cut or change your hair color.

[Francis]

Osho is saying: All maps lead to Hell. Not least all these integral maps, even the tree of life glyph. Because all maps are associated with expectations and, in general, all expectations lead to disappointment. The Fool of the Tarot has no map and knows nothing, except playfulness. To be a ‘player’ is to emulate the fool. Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.

KNOW NAUGHT!
ALL WAYS ARE LAWFUL TO INNOCENCE.
PURE FOLLY IS THE KEY TO INITIATION. ~ Crowley

If any man among you seeketh to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. ~ 1 Corinthians 3:18-19

Unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. ~ Matthew 18:5

[Jana]

I think we better examine this foolish thing.

When running on the unconscious programs of millions of years of species evolution, cultural indoctrination, and family of origin...if we are not conscious of how these programs are playing us, then we are fool enough to get involved in codependent marriage, abusive work situations etc... In this sense "fool" means unable to see the software behind the program that one is running. I don't think this is at all healthy. In my experience it takes great pain to wake up to the programs that run us, and then we can see why we act like we do. The Percival Heart type of fool is innocent but wise. Thus we reach out to the stars in open-hearted wonder at the mystery, and so as children we enter the Kingdom of Heaven. To be the very best we can be is to care for the harmony of the whole. A famous Vedic verse says, “It is our duty to the rest of mankind to be perfectly healthy, because we are ripples in the ocean of consciousness, and when we are sick, even a little, we disrupt cosmic harmony.”   


Reading The Alphabet and the Goddess, by Leonard Shlain...he said that union between man and woman came about as we become hunter-gatherers.

As humans evolved and gave birth to more feeble young, women adopted more menial tasks, while men engaged in thrill of the hunt. Men exchanged sex for meat, which the females needed for its iron content, because human menstruation had become increasingly heavy. Those women that engaged in this bargain had stronger offspring and so the pattern for pair-bonding became ubiquitous. Now women can get their own protein sources and men become a threat to the survival of the stable nest a woman can provide for herself. So now “unconscious” pair-bonding is superfluous and damaging…ie: non-evolutionary.

[Francis]

Is there any protein in sour grapes?

When running on the unconscious programs of millions of years of species evolution, cultural indoctrination, and family of origin...if we are not conscious of how these programs are playing us, then we are fool enough to get involved in codependent marriage, abusive work situations etc... In this sense "fool" means unable to see the software behind the program that one is running.

The fool shows us a way out of all these, and playful abandon is his method. The fool is an unsocialized wolf-boy, born and raised in the wilderness. He’s not running any unconscious programs. He has no agenda, conscious or unconscious. For example, he may feel hunger pangs, but he doesn’t even know what they are or what to do about them. Nature without check, with original energy. It takes a detached sense of aloofness to wake up to the programs that run us. For example, our best stand-up comedians get rousing laughs when then point out societies odd little habits and point to how arbitrary and senseless many of these are.

[Jana]

Nature is total agenda...sex, food, shelter, exercise, sunshine, water etc...
Primal consciousness/primordial consciousness is perhaps re-liberated in the integrated individual, and it is only those lose in the archetypal matrix of mind and the known that are operating in a counter-evolutionary fashion.

Can you talk about a lower form of the fool (socialized into stupidity) and a higher form of fool (transcendent of form)...both of which are a step up from the animal at one with nature because it doesn't have the brainware in order to diverge from the safety of instinct and genes.

The Heat of Spontaneous Evolution
Reality is too real for most of us and so we temper it with the mind, rather than remaining in beginner’s mind and the Percival Heart. However the rewards achieved from embracing the evolutionary edge are huge. In fact the brain produces the strongest cocktail of reward chemicals during gnostic revelation, and transcendental visionary chemistry. This rewarding cocktail is produced not only during peak moments of kundalini and high level dreams but also during “creative” conversation. Intense psychic plasma is generated when two people are engaged in living truth and are spontaneously growing consciousness, not just operating from memory, ie: pre-used thought. This circuit of shared energy feels like a powerful luminous heat between the heads and hearts of those involved in gnostic conversation or original thought. This mind-meld plasma results from focused inclusion and coherence between brains and thoughts. I imagine this heat could be generated within groups of advanced individuals…however triangulation of power dynamics usually would prevent the synchronization of consciousness in groups larger than two. I have only experienced it during cosmological talks with my father. This is the heat of spontaneous evolution.


www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8zWH3T5RCA  Wade Davis: The worldwide web of belief and ritual

[Jana]

Osho is saying: All maps lead to Hell, because all maps are associated with expectations and, in general, all expectations lead to disappointment.

TERRIFIED OF FREEDOM

In order to be "real" one has to move beyond the scaffolding that one has used to climb to God, or the scaffolding turns into a cage. Maps rules, formulas, books, practices, workshops, teachings, churches, Sangha, icons, props, products...all these can comprise the cemetery of your spirit if you are unable to set your spirit free beyond the confines of mind and form.