Play and imperfection

Play is unproductive. It offers no value to a system based on outcomes. Play has none. It’s just play. It’s being, not doing. It’s deeply aligned because it serves nothing and no one. It creates joy, exhilaration, and—because it’s always deeply resonant—stillness and calm.

It can’t be anything else. If play is pathologised or overly structured, it becomes work; it serves a purpose. And in doing so strips it of its purity: to do nothing.

Doing nothing is deeply dangerous for any system, because any system only flourishes when reward and sanction force an outcome—any outcome that enhances the survival chance of that system.

That’s why so much of the activity in contemporary society around our children has become work for them. Structured. Outcome-based. Measured. If we’re deeply focussed on outcomes, of course, we force our children to do the same; we force them to be productive. And in doing so, we breed misery. Who wants to be productive?

So play. Play freely, as there’s no other way. You can only play freely. Turn everything into play. Forget about outcomes; you don’t need any. They don’t serve you.

Do nothing.