The Mind at Play

Excerpted From Free Play: Improvisation in Live and Art, by Stephen Nachmanovitch

Play is always a matter of context. It is not what we do, but how we do it. 

The mood of play can be impish or supremely solemn. When the most challenging labors are undertaken from the joyous work spirit, they are play. 

We toss together elements that were formerly separate. Our actions take on novel sequences. To play is to free ourselves from arbitrary restrictions and expand our field of action. Our play fosters richness of response and adaptive flexibility. This is the evolutionary value of play -- play makes us flexible.

Play is intrinsically satisfying. It is not conditioned on anything else. Play, creativity, art, spontaneity, all these experiences are their own rewards and are blocked when we perform for reward or punishment, profit or loss.

Play is without “why”.