Play & Dynamic Balance - The Way of Phi in Practice -

Playing for Dynamic Balance – Photo: Felicia Sigmond

Dear  friend,

When the Linear (goal-oriented) and Circular (presence-oriented) come together in a healthy and harmonious way, something magical can happen that I call Dynamic Balance.

Play is one of the most direct ways to tap into this state.

It can be the kind of spontaneous play that children engage in, not playing with a specific outcome in mind, but playing for play's sake. The type that James P. Carse refers to as The Infinite Game in his seminal book Finite and Infinite Games – A Vision of Life as Play and Possibility. This is a wonderfully inspiring book, by the way, that I highly recommend. and one that I refer to in my book The Way of Phi – Bridging Polarisation through Dynamic Balance.

It could also be the kind of play that adults engage in whether for pleasure or with the prospect of co-creating progeny. The latter is arguably the "most creative act" we can engage in as humans. And the former, well, there is room for a lot of play there.

What is Play?

 

So, what is play really?

I think that it involves entering a different world in a sense. One which is different from the mundane world. It could be in the sense of calling things by different names. Or it could be by following other rules than we normally do. Or just pretending that things are different in some way.

With this definition, activities like acting is certainly play.

And so are sports activities.

Soccer

 

Let's take soccer as an example.

It makes absolutely no sense in the "ordinary" world to kick around a ball. It doesn't feed anyone. It doesn't really achieve anything.

However, since we ascribe meaning to it and pretend that it means something, then the position of the ball achieves a lot of things. Not in itself, of course, but through our agreement.

Money

 

Money is another example of this.

Money today holds no inherent value. 

In the past, when gold coins were being used, the material itself had some value. E.g. gold is a really good conductor of electrical currents. It can also be used for decorative purposes (aesthetical value).

However, with modern money, whether made out of paper, plastic or cheaper minerals – or even more so with electronic money – money has very little actual value.

Yet, by agreeing (voluntarily or not so voluntarily) that money has value, and by playing according to these rules, all of a sudden we create an imaginary world where almost worhless material objects or bits moved through computers imply real value and can provide people with all kinds of goods and services.

And so, as we keep acting as if money has value, we are playing.

The "funny" thing about a lot of the play outlined above, both in sports and concerning money, is that many forget that it isn't actually real, and engage in it as if it is.

Based on this all kinds of actions and activities are carried out, including atrocities e.g. wars.

Play runs very deep in culture

 

Play runs so deep, in fact, that it can be difficult to perceive it.

Typically, the Linear aspect tends to take over: 

Sports are valued depending on the score, the winner, the outcome.

Money is valued depending on the amount, the net worth, the number.

Typically, the Circular tends to be forgotten:Playing sports for the fun of it.

Or accessing money as a tool.

And whenever the Linear and the Circular are not present, the Dynamic Balance is lost, corrupted and the Play becomes concealed.

It doesn't disappear, but it hides.

When we forget that money is a game, we begin to chase it like it's truth.When we forget that sport is play, we turn it into tribal warfare.When we forget that intimacy is sacred, we turn it into transaction.

And yet, play never truly disappears.It waits, beneath the surface of even our most serious systems.Waiting in hiding, ever-present as a possibility, until a worthy emerges. That rare persone, firmly established in both the Circular and the Linear, who enters the dance again.

And even more so when several players assemble.

But where exactly does this kind of Play live?

It lives in those threshold moments where the boundaries of ordinary life begin to dissolve?

In the spaces between roles, between breaths, between what we know and what we’re about to discover.

Not fully in one world, nor the other, but the space between worlds.

Not just Linear. Not just Circular.

Walking The Way of Phi.

A space where new patterns emerge, free from the need for labels.

Here, time is perceived differently.

Here, play is all that matters.

And so we dance, we laugh, we cry and we know what it means to be alive. And we do it all knowing that this being alive depends on it. 

What about You?

 

As much as I love sharing these reflections with you, as The Listening Philosopher, one of the ways that I play is by listening.

So I would truly love to know:

What are your experiences of Play and of Dynamic Balance! 

And if you feel called to explore these topics personally, you're warmly invited to book a one-to-one session by clicking here.

Until next time, keep seeking and you shall find!

With gratitude, 

Christopher