The Flow of the World

The opposite of play is not what is serious, but what is real. (Sigmund Freud) The flow of the world is a child who plays, moving, here and there, the pieces of the game. (Eraclito) To play is a right for all the children. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), Resolution 44/25 of November 20, 1989, recognizes the play as an inviolable and unquestionable right of every child. To play is essential for a physical, cognitive, emotional and social development. It is the best instrument through which the child begins to learn to know himself and the meaning of the world, go through and rework the representation of external reality, consolidate the first customs of self-control and social dealing. The play, for the child, is not a breezy pastime, but a very serious activity, the fundamental work through which he grows and nurtures symbolic thought. The child, through the play, learns not only to dominate and master the outside world, but also to control and mediate the anguish of his inner world, elaborating conflicts and fantasies. The play is, like the dream, a privileged way for the unconscious. Play and dream move along the same lines, they develop and they can be interpreted by means of the same mechanisms. From the play, as from the dream, come to light the deep material of our inner being, so as to swells and overflows the dark tide of the soul. The play goes beyond the dichotomies good/evil, truth/falsehood, wisdom/madness. The play is free and disinterested. The play is spontaneity, freedom, creativity, spirituality. The play has an intrinsic order, rhythm, beauty, harmony. The play is accompanied by feelings of elevation and joy, tension and relaxation, happiness and seriousness, mystery and discovery. The one who plays is a “God who create”, free from pettiness, constraints and the limits of material needs. He is a "free spirit" who designes his life, raising doubts and questions, with the gaiety and daring of those who do not flinch in front of something, free from ignorance and fear.