A Playful Spirit: Exploring the Theology, Philosophy, and Psychology of Play

Cover
A Playful Spirit
A Playful Spirit: Exploring the Theology,Philosophy, and Psychologyof Play
Copyright page
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1
Everyday Play
	Play in Everyday Life
	Ancient Perspectives: Slicing, Stacking, and Subordinating Play
	Twentieth-Century Perspectives: Play as Functional
	Play and Psychological Development
	Conclusion
	Notes
Chapter 2
Possibility Play
	Play as Freedom
	Play as Creativity
	Engaging with Uncertainty: Playing “As If” with God
	God’s Own “As If”
	Conclusion
	Notes
Chapter 3
Dark Play
	The Dark Side of Play
	The Power Play of Dominance
	The Game of Religion
	Wild Play: Frivolity, Narcissism, Obsession, and Addiction
	Conclusion
	Notes
Chapter 4
Flanking Play
	From Fire to Honey: On (Not) Fighting Dominance
	Non-Dominance at Work: The Case of the Playful Academic
	Non-Dominance Not at Work: The Case of the Aggrieved Divorcée
	Non-Dominance’s Best Move: Flanking
	Flanking Addiction
	Flanking Ego through Meditation
	Conclusion
	Notes
Chapter 5
Bright Play
	How Ego-Transformation Can Be Play
	Hinduism
	Judaism
	Christianity
	Tantric Buddhism
	Mysticism
	Neuroscientists, Novelists, and Other Playful Thinkers
	Conclusion
	Notes
Chapter 6
Meditation
	How Meditation Becomes Play
	How Meditation Births Ego-Transformation
	The Bodhisattva Ideal
	Conclusion
	Notes
Chapter 7
Conclusion
	Playing with the Divine
	The Play
	The Players
	The Playing Field
	Final Thoughts
	Notes
Chapter 8
Epilogue
	Notes
Appendix
	Attentional Focus Meditation
	Generative Meditation
	Receptive Meditation
	Reflective Meditation
	Other Types of Meditation
	One More Meditator’s Story
	The Science of Meditation
	Notes
Select Bibliography
Index
About the Authors