Let’s Play
68
The best athlete
wants his opponent at his best.
The best general
enters the mind of his enemy.
The best businessman
serves the communal good.
The best leader
follows the will of the people.
All of them embody
the virtue of non-competition.
Not that they don’t love to compete,
but they do it in the spirit of play.
In this they are like children
and in harmony with the Tao.
Tao Te Ching by Lao-tsu, trans. by Stephen Mitchell
What about you? This is your life, – only once in all of space and time will “you” have this opportunity, this obligation to “be you”! It makes sublime sense to become the best version of yourself here and now, where destiny/fate has placed you. This you owe, – to yourself, and to the universe of which you are a member.
How? By playing!
Yes, excellence is the quality that arises from play. Does one play alone? Sometimes, but not usually. Play is enhanced with a partner, as nuances, variations, possibilities are discovered by observation, by imitation, and by challenge of one’s playmate.
Here we are, you and I, playmates for as long as we are here. Let’s become really, really good at the activities that capture our hearts.
Shall we play?!
4 thoughts on “Let’s Play”
To me, there is a distinct line between competition for play and competition to prove an inner need. I wish I could say that my competitive nature is rooted only in play but I know it’s not. There times when a driver will pull up next to me at a red light and he (usually a “he”), is clearly intent on racing forward and cutting me off. I can feel the desire to beat the crap out of this guy by jamming my foot onto the accelerator the moment the light changes. Rarely do I give into that desire, but just the intensity of the feeling is enough to let me know it is not play, but some crazy iteration of survival. Remaining mindful of the insanity of that sensation is critical to remaining calm and centered. Humans are nuts!!!
Competition is always play for children. I think this is a safe generalization. Children as they mature, are often introduced to a professional-ized form of competition which amounts to win-or-die attitude. The result is an adult who no longer remembers how to play.
As you know I am a fan of drag racing. At the professional side of this driver-crew-car verses driver-crew-car competition the stakes are enormous. Success and failure have financial consequences and livelihoods are affected. In recent years I’ve been fortunate to observe a new form of drag racing. Car clubs have been formed by individuals with the passion, the skill to construct, tune, and drive state of the art race cars. They choose to engage in the hard work and frustration of the competition for two reasons. They can afford the expense. And they love the absolute exhilaration of the competition.
Competition can be a type of aggression. Also, competition can take the form of play. Who wins is not that important.
It’s interesting to me that several of the sports I prefer are things like bowling, frisbee, pool, and I believe I would have liked golf if I had taken it up. These are sports where one is competing with oneself. No one is attempting to throw a ball past you or knock you down while you’re running. On the other hand I do like badminton and tennis, but these are also sports where a player is in control and needs to do well on their own.
Your comment prompted me to remember that ping pong is the sport that most captured my attention. I played a lot as a kid over summers at camp. One has an opponent, but the real opposition is the constraint of the laws of physics. A lot of practice is needed to until the body “knows” the nuances of paddle angle, delicacy of force to reverse the angle and the spin of the feather-weight ball, etc., etc.. I suppose it is akin to tennis and badminton in that pleasure is derived from one’s own ability to leverage the flow of things…