More Lessons in Fun

Today's lessons in fun are excerpted from a sermon by Toni Maddi.

"What do you do to play? Do you play? Animals do. Dolphins play pranks. Did you know that? They have been known to sneak up behind unsuspecting pelicans and goose them, snatching a few tail feathers. They tease fish by pulling them backward and then letting them go and they amuse themselves by bothering slow turtles, rolling them over and over. Bear cubs play, anyone who has a dog knows that dogs play, even cats play. When one of our cats died, we had to get a kitten because our other cat was trying to make me into his play companion. He has come up with organized games with rules that he expected me to play with him every day. Play does not end with childhood in higher species of animals. Why should it for humans?..."

"Listen to the language we use to describe fun: 'the spirit of fun,' a 'spirited game.' There is Spirit in fun. The creative spirit flows through everything. One day last summer, I was walking in the forest preserve and I was awestruck by the limitless creativity in nature in just a two mile path. Robins, blue jays, crows, red-winged blackbirds, black cap chickadees, finches, cardinals, mulberry trees, dogwoods, black walnuts, elms, oaks, maples, pines, and not just oaks, maples and pines, but bur oak, pin oak, black oak, black maple, silver maple, sugar maple and at least as many pines. There is an ever-changing display of flowers and no two flowers are alike. I don't mean that wild roses aren't like daises; I mean on a wild rose bush, each blossom is unique...

"Filmmaker and performance pioneer Jack Smith said, 'If you make perfect art you will be admired, but if you make imperfect art, you will be loved!' Bad Art is a liberation delivery system. It doesn't mean low expectations, it means no expectations. That allows creativity to flow. Jon Spayde, who with his wife Laurie Phillps, started the Bart Art movement says, 'Only boldness counts' and, we say, if you can't be bold, at least be bad.' Bad Art is best done in a small group so that you have support to let yourself go. Make a wild collage. Finger paint. Write a silly poem or fairy tale. Only boldness counts.

"Dr. Lenore Terr,...in Beyond Love and Work, says, 'We know we are playing when we are suddenly removed from all cares and worries. We know because afterward we feel cleansed and refreshed, despite tired bodies, aching muscles, our sleepiness. The interlude has been a healthy one. It takes place entirely outside, or at the very edge of, our drive for personal success or survival...'"