IT´S HOW YOU PLAY                                

 

 


                                          

 

 

                                          

                                                                          

 

 

The Masters of Play  

Meta – “Behind “         “together with”                      Often donating change!

(Concise Oxford Dictionary)     

Metamodel, met mathematics, meta-psychology, meta-ethics, metaphysics, metamorphoses, metaphor meta cognition

Is there the possibility that deep down in the innermost crevices of the human mind, they’re a vestibule, the recipient and harbinger of a secret?  

“All that which is human; learning, moving, growing and living, lies in essence, in the seed of human endeavour – the urge to play…and that play, is the source of all that is human. – a metamodel.

 

The very act of play confirms and provides the flourishing of so many individual human qualities in a single manifestation, which one can only define as a wonderful way to learn; stimulation of the senses, imagination and fantasy, movement, change, curiosity and discovery, concentration, decision-making, reflection, breaking-down, building and creating, assimilating, transforming, survival skills, power strength and ability, humour, and laughter.  And out of all these divided aspects and qualities of human nature coming together in a symbiotic agreement, we experience a glowing sense of pleasure and enjoyment.  Which encourages and inspires us to find evermore newer and creative ways to play.”

Play  - is the common denominator of all higher intelligent creatures on earth.

Play – is a sign of intelligence.

Play – is intelligence.

Play – is the building block of human intelligence.

Play – is as instinctual and as automatic as breathing.

We cannot live our lives without playing.  To stop playing, is to stop “living.”

Are you alive?

Playing is – a fundamental creative human activity.

Playing is - a human need.

To be creative, to create, is why we are here.

We are here – to play.

And we will play with anything we can get our hands on.

Children are the masters of play.  

The popular slogan, “learning by doing!” - is not precise enough...“learning by playing is better.   

Play is the best stimulator for learning, and human nature has an insatiable desire to learn.

Play is a meta-model of human nature.

Play  – is how to learn. 

Play is a meta-model.  

1st.   Principle of learning -“how to learn” (a meta-model)

2nd. Principle of learning - “what to learn” (a model)

Like human nature, play – organises and gives structure and meaning, and truly is the most natural learning-tool developed by human nature.

Play is more than, “just play”  - “ just play” as a statement, underestimates the true value of play.

Play is a human need.

   

Learning is fun.  To organise, and give structure and meaning to what is happening, is a fundamental gift of human nature.  

Meta-models – organise and give structure and meaning to what is happening.

Meta –models, are the mothers of all models, they contain, and simultaneously create all models.  They stand behind all the various and diversified myriad's of models, and are able at the same time to give order and meaning to the seemingly confusing diversity.

They simplify, what is normally a complex, sophisticated, diversified puzzle.

Take Lego for example, Lego is one of the most successful toys in the world, (it is a meta-model,) to be more concrete, it is a handful of brightly coloured plastic bricks, which when placed in the hands of a child, or anyone for that matter, is transformed, with a little concentration and curiosity, into a model, (a model train, a model-boat, a model-plane, whatever).  The varieties of models, which can be created, are theoretically endless.  Millions of different models can be created from the bricks.  This is the genius of Lego.  Lego is a meta-model.  Yet the genius of Lego goes deeper. 
The genius of play goes deeper.

Lego is a –1st. principle toy – it teaches us “how to learn”  

The genius of play goes deep

The secret of “how to learn”, lies not only in the “building” of models, but also in their “breaking-down.”

The genius of play goes deeper.

Without the “breaking-down”, there is no transformation, - transformation is the name of the “Human” game, and is why we are here.

Human beings are the most remarkable creatures on earth, which have the ability to transform everything they come in contact with.  

Human beings are constantly in flux and movement, there is nothing static about a human being – they are “breaking-down” and “building” all the time. 

Human beings are transformers.

The genius of play goes deeper.

To play is to transform.

When we realise this, then the argument follows:  Human beings are forever playing.  

The problem is realising and accepting this, most of us would argue, that there are other things more important than play.  Play has been reduced to a function of human activity reserved for children, to help and amuse them in preparation for adulthood.

Play is the main focus of children, while for adults it appears to fill a small percentage of their priorities.

Human beings are forever playing.

The problem with adults in this world of play is that by the time the child reaches adulthood, with good or bad influence, from parents, school, environment, and society, they have transformed (played) themselves into a model of how they should be.   

The game an adult plays is normally a poorer imitation and model of the child's.

The main play and game of an adult is called – Identification
The main play and game of a child (infant), is called – Observation

You could say that meta-models  - observe.

While models - identify.

I am a Scot, with Scottish thinking, with Scottish eating and social habits and preferences brought up in a working class background, with Christian values, and a Scottish sense of humour.   Just these descriptions are enough to represent the basics of a model.

All models are useful in describing a generalisation. Models have value, yet they tend to also create a defence mechanism whenever threatened or criticised. There is the Christian model, the Islamic model, the Jewish model, the Buddhist model, the communist model, and the capitalist model.   Models tend to be rigid and inflexible, the Scot, the Dane, the old, the young, the educated, the poor, the rich.  Such descriptions though appearing to be detailed are still only generalisations regarding identification.  The uniqueness of the individual cannot be found.  Models have very little to do with change, (change as regards to transformation.) In the evolution of a model, there are only two choices – strengthen or weaken.

In the evolution of a model, a healthy defence mechanism is a must.

In the truest sense, models do not change.  The Christian model does not suddenly become, the Islamic model, and vice – versa, such models experiencing any fluctuation, can only strengthen or weaken. The Scot does not become a Dane. The problem with models is that they are generalisations, and if identified with, become even more problematic, for one tends to believe that the model is unique, instead of what it is – a generalisation.

“One is born as an original, but eventually ends up as a copy!”

 Change in this area is no creative transformation; there is only adding, the strengthening, and perpetuation of the model, - the right and the wrong of it all, depending on your point of view.  This world of models, and there are billions of models in the world, is a veritable labyrinth when one is seeking what is right and wrong.   Which model is better than the other?  In which direction do I go?

Original is the meta-model

 

In the evolution of a meta-model there is no defence mechanism, as mentioned before, they are the mothers of all models, they create models, and understand the procedures in model building.  Meta-models are open-ended, a process, a free agent, they are creative to the extreme – they accept all models.   They are 100% democratic.

In essence, they are the Scot and the Dane, the Christian The Muslim the Jew and the Buddhist, the poor and the rich.  Meta-models have a common language (a code) which links to all models, and this common language is simple.

Take Lego, a whole box full of Duplo and tip them out on the floor.  Create 2 models, a model car and a model house, observe them and work out how to build a boat from the bricks you have used to create the model-car and the model –house, the process is relatively simple, and the process can also be reversed.   Attempt to do the same with an ordinary toy-car and toy-house.  One can build maybe a boat from such toys but it would at the same time, ruin, the opportunity to recreate these models, (the car and the house).

Models are fixed, and a finished product.

Meta-models are flexible and open-ended, there is process.

The success of Lego is the dismantling of the car and the house into the new form – boat.  The magic of Lego is not only in the successful completion of this, but the recognition that when one observes the boat one can also see within its form   – the car and the house, (intact and awaiting to be rebuilt).

All models of Lego offer a way back to the original state, (meta-model).

All models are interconnected, and are therefore in harmony.

All children are born as harmonic individuals.

Play  = to conquer and master your world  

The Play Foundation

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