"To be playful is not to be trivial or frivolous, or to act as though nothing of consequence will happen. On the contrary, when we are playful with each other we relate as free persons, and the relationship is open to surprise; everything that happens is of consequence. It is, in fact, seriousness that closes itself to consequence, for seriousness is a dread of the unpredictable outcome of open possibility. To be serious is to press for a specified conclusion. To be playful is to allow for possibility whatever the cost to oneself."
Basically, be open to surprises and serendipity. There's lots of room for variation even in that routine. But you can also add things to the routine. Socialization is a major one; it's the 20% of "work" that brings in 80% of the wonderful things in life.
I feel I am open to surprises and appreciate it (Hence asking this question in the first place). The question is how to find more exposure to surprises.
Surprise would mean something like not planning too far ahead. What's keeping you from being a digital nomad? Is it work? Why not quit work?
Instead of the gym slot, you can drive to a random part of town and just walk in a random direction. One of my favorite moments were just exploring the part of town with destroyed buildings. There was a nice kebab place there too and they had the guest hospitality (Xenia) that's so rare to find in our lives.
The larger the variance, both good and bad, the more the opportunity for surprises. That's also why people go to bars - there's a lot of bad nights and a few surprising ones.
I took a class with Professor Carse in NYU circa 1990. It was definitely among my favorite classes in my entire college experience even though he insisted on holding it early in the morning and I was invariably hung over and tired.
It's really nice to see quotes from this book come up from time to time. Seems it's finally finding its audience decades after publication, which is gratifying. Great book; great thinker and lecturer.
Amusing(ish) anecdote: After college I worked as a live audio engineer and once did sound for his sons' band, name "Urban Blight." Sort of a funky, 90's NYC band. Nothing spectacular, but pretty good stuff.
Comments
This quote from Finite and Infinite Games:
"To be playful is not to be trivial or frivolous, or to act as though nothing of consequence will happen. On the contrary, when we are playful with each other we relate as free persons, and the relationship is open to surprise; everything that happens is of consequence. It is, in fact, seriousness that closes itself to consequence, for seriousness is a dread of the unpredictable outcome of open possibility. To be serious is to press for a specified conclusion. To be playful is to allow for possibility whatever the cost to oneself."
Basically, be open to surprises and serendipity. There's lots of room for variation even in that routine. But you can also add things to the routine. Socialization is a major one; it's the 20% of "work" that brings in 80% of the wonderful things in life.
I feel I am open to surprises and appreciate it (Hence asking this question in the first place). The question is how to find more exposure to surprises.
Surprise would mean something like not planning too far ahead. What's keeping you from being a digital nomad? Is it work? Why not quit work?
Instead of the gym slot, you can drive to a random part of town and just walk in a random direction. One of my favorite moments were just exploring the part of town with destroyed buildings. There was a nice kebab place there too and they had the guest hospitality (Xenia) that's so rare to find in our lives.
The larger the variance, both good and bad, the more the opportunity for surprises. That's also why people go to bars - there's a lot of bad nights and a few surprising ones.
Finite and Infinite Games by James P Carse is one of my favourite books of all time.
I took a class with Professor Carse in NYU circa 1990. It was definitely among my favorite classes in my entire college experience even though he insisted on holding it early in the morning and I was invariably hung over and tired.
It's really nice to see quotes from this book come up from time to time. Seems it's finally finding its audience decades after publication, which is gratifying. Great book; great thinker and lecturer.
Amusing(ish) anecdote: After college I worked as a live audio engineer and once did sound for his sons' band, name "Urban Blight." Sort of a funky, 90's NYC band. Nothing spectacular, but pretty good stuff.