Why We Need To Play More
On the quest of reclaiming the seriousness of play
I always say that scientists are like children who never truly grew up. We like to play. This is basically what experiments are, they are controlled playing.
But I see now that this is not entirely true. Most scientists might have started of with this mindset of pure curiosity about the world, leading them to the lands of science, which basically is a constant questioning and curiously trying to understand the world around us. When we do experiments, we play. Right?
Yes, but no. Not in the way we do experiments in school. This “adult play” (okay, not that kind of adult play, but perhaps it should be more like that!) … this … linkedin-serious kind of adult play that we learn in school, conveyed as experiments is really just following cookbook recipes step by step. This is how we learn to experiment. It doesn’t encourage us to be truly curious or creative unless we already have that special interest. But even then, an experiment might sometimes beat that out of you, because it becomes boring and repetitive. And most important: You “experiment” to get one true answer, one conclusion.
When we play, it’s not about a specific outcome, but rather about enjoying the experience. Let’s reclaim the playfulness into our lifes!
By playing, your focus will be on the process, not the outcome. Hence, you will be more open-minded with less expectations of a specific result and you might be surprised or discover something new.
Practicing this open mind is not easy, as we are often driven by our beliefs, and especially those beliefs that align with the collective beliefs of our “tribe”, no matter if it’s a specific spirituality, religion, science or society. It might also be a smaller tribe of people you love and respect. Friends and family that you grew up with. The feeling of belonging is important to our well-being, but at the same time, it shapes the beliefs that we have. Changing those beliefs with an open mind means unlearning something you have already learned as a “fact”. It’s almost impossible unless you practice open-mindedness in everyday life.
Practicing open-mindedness means you need to take a critical look at your confirmation bias. Do you agree with statistics, facts and stories that align with what you believe? Then make sure to play with other groups as well, and find people who think differently. Don’t just play the same games in your personal echo chambers, but reach out with curiosity and playfulness.
Don’t take your or other people’s opinions too seriously. It can be very draining to be around fundamentalists that insist on having found their one truth. If your playful experiments with other tribes start to drain you or you start to feel misunderstood or agitated, then move on and find some better playmates.
Playing with different tribes and opinions with a true curiosity will help you get a better understanding of other people. Remember, i the end, you don’t have to agree at all, but perhaps gain a better understanding as of why do they believe the things that they believe. And mirror that same question back to yourself. Why do you believe the things that you believe?
Asking that question in a playful and curious manner will help you discover your true authentic self and your values. Take a closer look at your reactions and patterns in your interactions with the world. Analyse with a series of why’s to go deeper into the root cause.
This playful approach will help you connect more with yourself, with other people and with nature itself. And you will have more fun, as long as you remember to take care of yourself as well and don’t push a specific outcome or insist on changing anyone’s mind. Just take care of your own, and stay curious and open-minded.
In the end, you might broaden your horizon and get unexpected ideas or results because you do things you wouldn’t have thought about doing if you just followed other people’s recipes and paths.
On a personal note, I am playing around in a safe environment with this shadow profile of mine. My main profile is mainly about space and science, but also about the soft skills like creativity and curiosity which I find immensely important in science education.
You might wonder why I have a shadow profile while advocating for more authenticity. But the purpose of this profile is not exploring a spiritual side of mine, noticing how it feels to be in a different “tribe” with the posts that I write and read, but also it involves a longing for another person, which I prefer to keep outside my more professional explorations of the natural space and time and self-improvement.
Hence, I choose to play around in this safe environment, as the alternative would just be to keep in my personal journal.
