What Is Play

Something we have a dearth of in our civilization. It's gotten to the point where all recreational activities resemble work, and children are prevented from ever playing by an endless procession of organized work. So what is play?

Play is a free activity you engage in for its own intrinsic value. Not for fitness, not for recognition, and certainly not to beat someone else.

Play is also a LearningExperience when two or more beings play together. This applies more to youngsters than adults but during interactive play, the participants are gaining social knowledge which can later be used in non-playing situations.

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We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.

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Good ways for adults to play:

• Hiking
• Getting into a book club or some other pleasant, directed community
• Martial Arts
• Sports
• Bands
• CategoryRecreation??

I contend that most activities could be considered play, if the motivation as described as above. Although many would consider hiking or martial arts as contributing to fitness or whatever, I like doing them because I like doing them; this is enough motivation for me to continue doing them. Any positive results are pure gravy. -- WilliamUnderwood

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