Games and Imagination Keep us Alive
I have a Theory: Games and Imagination keep us alive
and give us deep meaning
Family Feud (or Family Fortune), Blankety Blanks, Name that Tune, Letters and Numbers, Sale of the Century, Who wants to Be a Millionaire, the list goes on …
And of course it’s not only television shows that fire our creativity and intellect, our curiosity and our sense of competitive fun and wonder, and sometimes awe.
Real out-doors games, like “elastics” for girls, “kerby” for boys, “British Bulldog” for boys and girls and clean role-playing games got us, as children, outdoors and being physical, as well as using our minds and communicating with others.
Who could forget cats-eyes, tombolas, and spider marbles? Games train our minds, allow children to socialize, and hone our instincts and our skills of co-operation and sharing while presenting solvable challenges.
Knuckle-bones or jacks, marbles and yo-yos seem now to be games of my past, but I can honestly say that all these games and shows, as well as the myriad of computer games and board games that I have ever played, have been the “stuff of life” or the fabric that my spiritual survival has been woven upon.
Why?
Life is a metaphor. A metaphor is something that stands for or represents something else. I believe that our actions, our words, our thoughts and our feelings and emotions, individually and collectively, represent universal concepts or ideas, and universal patterns or archetypes of creative energy.
I think that the creative, fun, intellectual and healthily competitive elements of games and fun activities are compelling and present in every shared or common sphere/arena of human endeavor, from gathering food to gaining a livelihood to entertaining ourselves. This is especially so if we let it be so, as I believe it should be.
That is, I think that the elements of games and healthy things imagined reflect “reality”, but we sometimes let aspects of reality be too competitive and we sometimes reduce, even eliminate the fun element.
Life then becomes sterile or clinical. Life without games, fun, and imagination is like an arrow aimed at a target, that target being self-focus upon what the shooter wants, to the exclusivity of others. It is an arrow of selfishness sprung from a bow of hardened attitude toward our collective humanity.
The game above, Lollipop, literally saved my life when I was 11 years old. I would play it by myself for hours upon end, to amuse and entertain myself and to solve the goal of shaking all the marbles into the hollow handle. It was a stressful period in my life personally then, but games and my imagination kept me alive.
Later as a University student, I began playing Amiga games — Alley Cat, Kid Chameleon, Xor, Space Quest, and many, many others, and these too contributed to my sanity. Then I moved onto Big Fish Games online and my favorite Board games and Puzzles, like the Bedlam Cube.
I love games and always will. Games, fun and healthy imagination kept me alive, and keep me alive. Games are NOT for children. They are for children and for adults.
I am grateful for all the games in my Life. Life is a game too. Let the games go on …..
Originally published at starstruckworld.wordpress.com on November 28, 2012.
