I read a quote from Q’uo or Haton the other day. It said something about how some folk like to take drugs so they can connect with their inner child. As someone who loves to get high (in whichever way), this resonated with me a lot! So, it got me wondering, if I were to give up taking drugs, what could I do instead to connect with my inner child?
Drawing, reading a story, listening to music, having sex. Those came to mind for me.
How do you like to play? What happens when you’re not being playful? Is this something you’ve had to learn or does it come quite naturally to you?
EDIT: additional question: is presence of mind a prerequisite for play?
Playing is engaging in an activity for the sole purpose of the pleasure of the activity itself AND to be open to the joy of being here. Its doing something because it feels good! An engineer might experience play by building something. An artist–by finger painting. An athlete–by swimming. The question is, who are you? Drawing, music and literature point to you finding play in many artistic pursuits
I play in the water–I love to swim (innertubes, exploring freshwater springs, rolling around in shallow ocean waves) Climbing trees, racing a friend. I also love stories–fantastical stories and playing pretend. As an adult I do this by convincing my friends to learn various accents and to go out together pretending to be characters we made up. This is so fun I highly recommend it.
Some emotions I feel often during play and my state of mind: Openness and open heartedness, curiosity, connectivity to those I play with, humor! pleasure, joy, exhilaration, concentration, and competitiveness
Some colors I associate with play: Yellow and pink
From me: Silence the mind or have a dreaming sleep.
Wakeful state of mind is not a prerequisite for ‘play’.
From Sadhguru: I don’t need any drugs, can’t you see that I’m always stoned?
From Quo:
The use of intoxicants is that which, for the time of the use, blurs the vision, shall we say. We do not say this is true for each and every seeker. In this case we offer it as a potentially general rule that the adept would be one who has freed itself from those qualities of the outer world which detract from its journey of seeking union.
Many experiences in the outer world, as you would called it, or as we have called it, may seem at times to be most helpful and indeed provide catalyst of a useful nature. But as the seeker of truth, which we are calling the adept, proceeds further and further along its path, it will discover that those qualities of the outer world which at one time were happy experiences, no longer have attraction. The world and all its lures falls away, and the inner world only is that of importance to such a seeker, for only within the seeking of truth by meditation, by contemplation, by prayer, by fasting, by giving oneself completely to the will of the Creator, can the true seeker achieve this goal of union with the One Creator.
