Seriousness vs. Playfulness vs. Involvement

[Derek White]

Hey, so I was just thinking about which one of the three, seriousness, playfulness or involvement, is superior. Many spiritual teachers say “don’t be serious about life”, “life is play”, etc. But is this really true? I find to get anything done you need to be serious about what you’re doing. Isn’t seriousness involvement? Or are they different?

Even when you’re playing a game, say chess, you have to take it seriously to enjoy it. The more seriously you take it the more fun there is. So maybe this goes full circle? I wanna know what you think. 

[VividReality]

Hey, but quick question, where do you wish to recite? 

[Derek White]

@VividReality Thanks for the video man ? It’s great?. I think that was smart of you to pull up the definitions and that did guide me to the answer. What I was asking was how should we live life? What our attitude should be? Like if you’re playful you don’t get anything done and if you’re serious It gets boring and so on. But yea I got the answer. I think we should look at life like a game (noun) and play (verb) it seriously (adjective). This would be involvement. Best way to play a game is to play it seriously. So in this way seriousness and playfulness are one and the same. 
 

Assuming you mean “where do I wish to ‘reside’?”, I currently reside near Vancouver, Canada. I think it’s great and don’t really wish to be anywhere else.

Edited December 12, 2019 by Derek White

[skywords]

@VividReality @Derek White

These are great points you've all made, IMO!

And, yes, for me, all my life, I've asked myself whether to see life as "play" or "life and death struggle," or, as you say, "seriousness."  It is only recently that I've included "involvement," or the word I prefer, "engagement."

My conclusion is that when all three are integrated, or "sublated" and synthesized into one, one is "Enlightened."

Thus:

1.   Life can always be play, in as much as there's a Lightheartedness about it.
2.   Life can always be serious, in as much as there is no grace, no play, no blissful engagement without actual danger.
3.   Life can only be passionately both serious and playful, when one is fully engaged.

Lastly, I've found that the key to integrating all three is found in the cliché, "but her/his heart wasn't in it."  Conversely, and most specifically, and emphatically,

One's Heart Has To Be In It

In a word:  

Warmth.

Warmth of heart, in my experience, integrates all three elements into one experience of Enlightenment:

One is most passionately engaged in life when one is blissfully creative, that is, playful, yet fully experiences a clear and present ~ serious danger (Samuel Johnson — 'Depend upon it, sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.' ~ That's why Leo continually reminds us of our mortality.).  And there is one word that brings all these together:  committed LOVE.  However, the word, "love," has been so overused, that, for some, it has lost it's impact, having become a cliché.  For me, a less mental, or abstract and ethereal word, one more visceral and thus, more passionate, also meaning love, is "warmth."

Edited December 26, 2019 by skywords

[Rasheed]

What you guys say makes sense for me and I agree, but for me, it’s all relative here.

Whart is serious for me, can be play for you, and vice versa.

I think, answer to this is: AWARENESS.

I let my awareness guide me...

[skywords]

@Rasheed

How do you choose between awareness of one thing, over awareness of another?

I mean, I find that I can be aware of an almost infinite number of things, at any one time.  So, I always ask myself, "what do I focus on now?"  "Do I look inward, outward?  Do I focus on thoughts or feelings, and why?"

I usually end up privileging one form of awareness over another.  That's why I have finally landed on one form over others, because I find it most inclusive of what I find most passionately engaging, seriously meaningful and playfully lighthearted, all at once, as warmth of heart.

I have found that if I don't focus on warmth of heart, I do get involved in all manner of detours and dead ends, that I don't want to repeat.  For example, I can default on spite, or on combativeness, or on "winning," and being "right."  I can easily spiral into proving something that has no real meaning for me.  

(I will add, that they once did have appropriate meaning.  But they are now but relics of bygone days.  For me, there is always an ongoing celebration of the freedom to focus on one form of awareness over another.  But this celebration of freedom requires creative engagement.  It is not entirely automatic.  It involves both some effort, and some surrender.)

Edited December 26, 2019 by skywords

[Rasheed]

3 hours ago, skywords said:

@Rasheed

How do you choose between awareness of one thing, over awareness of another?

I mean, I find that I can be aware of an almost infinite number of things, at any one time.  So, I always ask myself, "what do I focus on now?"  "Do I look inward, outward?  Do I focus on thoughts or feelings, and why?"

I usually end up privileging one form of awareness over another.  That's why I have finally landed on one form over others, because I find it most inclusive of what I find most passionately engaging, seriously meaningful and playfully lighthearted, all at once, as warmth of heart.

I have found that if I don't focus on warmth of heart, I do get involved in all manner of detours and dead ends, that I don't want to repeat.  For example, I can default on spite, or on combativeness, or on "winning," and being "right."  I can easily spiral into proving something that has no real meaning for me.  

(I will add, that they once did have appropriate meaning.  But they are now but relics of bygone days.  For me, there is always an ongoing celebration of the freedom to focus on one form of awareness over another.  But this celebration of freedom requires creative engagement.  It is not entirely automatic.  It involves both some effort, and some surrender.)

Your point makes sense to me. 

By awareness I meant, being aware of when I am being serious, and when I am being playful.

In my experience at first, this was on auto-pilot. I think, becoming aware of this is 90% of the job. 

For me, it is important to choose my state consciously. Awareness is crucial for me in this sense, because it allows me to choose whether I am 'serious' or 'playful'....Those words are relative, depends on the person, therefore I think, I am did not explained very well, what I truly meant.

[skywords]

@Rasheed

Now I understand.

Thanks!

[Flowerfaeiry]

I think it goes full circle. Play IS serious business. Ever watch children play? It is a very serious endeavor for them. They become very focused, involved, enveloped in the experience.