|
Daniel:
We talk about Original Play and its applications such
as when you get attacked and how you respond in play to that
attack. Can we
talk a little bit about intervening with play when someone
else is getting attacked?
Fred:
It is simpler, I
suppose when you are playing with kids on the mat than out on
the street, in a public situation.
It seems like there are more variables, more things
that I think about when I am out on the street.
Although (laugh), I suppose, if I am thinking I am not
playing. That's
probably the primary determining factor.
If I respond out of what I call "the play mode" or
"play response," I don’t think about it.
And that will be true wherever it is…on the mat,
playing with kids or on the street, anywhere.
That was the same when the rhinos charged [Fred is
referring here to an instance when he was charged by two
rhinos in South Africa].
I didn't stop to think, "what do you do in this
position," "what did I learn in my life that could respond
to charging rhinos?"
And
of course there is nothing that I have ever learned
specifically that handles that kind of thing.
So, I think what happens over time is that the training
one gets while you are actually playing becomes embedded.
And so you don't think, you just respond.
Once you start to think then you weigh alternatives,
social pressures and other things come to bare.
To take a trite example…its what I call the
difference between "doing kindnesses" and "being
kind." Doing kindnesses would be seeing a situation where
you needed to be kind. That
was a possible option and you took it after maybe you thought
about what was going on and what you might do and what the
consequences were. But
being kind involves no thinking.
Your response in the grocery store with the older woman
with the cart. That
was just being kind as opposed to doing kindnesses.
Does that make any sense?
Daniel:
Yes. It sounds like it is a process that is unconscious
or automatic.
Fred:
Yes. It
gets to that.
Daniel:
As you practice it more and more.
Fred:
Yes. I
think it's the same as the fear response. You hear a loud noise and you jump. You don't think "I hear a loud noise so I am going to
jump now." You’re
just startled and your body makes a startled response.
I think that the same thing is true with kindness.
The situation develops and you are kind. You don't stop to think about it and say, "this is a
situation I can be kind in."
But I think that a culture, a family or social
situations where kindness is not the norm, then it's
instituting a new habit so one doesn't think. You are just kind.
Daniel:
It also sounds like what you are saying is that
regardless of where you are, when you stop to think about it,
the situation can already be past you.
Fred:
Yes, I mean that if we took the examples that we are
familiar with on the mat, if you are playing with a child and
you stop and think about what kind of physical response you
are going to make to that child, as they move to you or around
you, there's a good chance that you are going to be hit or
not be able to move to keep that child safe.
The only way you can respond in a way that is
protective of yourself and others is to not think. If you think you are always going to be a half step behind.
Daniel:
I can also imagine that that description can be very
troubling or unsettling for people who spend a lot of time
thinking or in their heads.
Fred:
Yes. But
my guess is that in many parts of their lives they already
feel troubled because they find their thinking leaves them a
half step behind.
Daniel:
So this is really not just about a new way of being
physically in the world.
It is also about a new physiology.
Fred:
Yes, it is about a new biochemistry, a new brain
response. I think
it is new only because our culture isn't used to it, because
we are not trained that way. I think it is built in.
Daniel:
You think it is there already but somehow we have been
trained out of it.
Fred:
Yes.
Daniel:
In that respect people who say that this is really
difficult to do or its hard work, and it is work, you could
easily respond "it has already been there." So, it is
really a matter of getting back in touch with it.
Fred:
It doesn't take away from it being hard work.
Anything one wants to do, whether it is playing the piano or
wanting to ski, whatever it is.
If you want that activity to become a habit-something
you don’t have to think about when you do it-that is going
to take time. That
is going to take practice.
Daniel:
So we can describe this not only a s a habit but also
as a life skill. It
is interesting to ponder all the different ways that this life
skill can be applied in all of the daily living situations.
Business, school, family relations, child
development,…
Fred:
Sports, police work, all those situations in which a
habitual response not based on fear would be helpful.
Daniel:
That's kind of mind blowing.
Fred:
Yes. From
my perspective it should be.
Then we are beginning to understand what Original Play
is. If you
don't get to the idea that it is mind blowing then one does
not understand Original Play.
Daniel:
Mind blowing and world changing.
Fred:
Yes, it is nothing short of that.
|
