A growing concern of mine is how the very human need to find meaning in the world can create narrative prisons / prisms through which we see the world, and thereby miss reality for the story we impose over it. I've been especially focused on how the need for these narratives has come to eclipse our public life -- but you wisely point out that these narratives blind us to truths about ourselves, too.
Paul Czege writes about journaling games: "They are acts of purging ourselves of narratives that aren't in our interests and enlivening ourselves *for* the temporal world, and we sense it about them."
Sam's "Death of the Author" is a brilliant instantiation of that idea, making the idea of narrative control itself quite literal. It is, of course, impossible to shed falsehood when we play with words -- reading the words "touch grass" is very much *not* touching grass! But I am so very interested and invested in your effort to try.
Thank you for this comment, Gene! I really like the plurality of the prisons/prisms, and would personally extend that to the singular reality referenced.
While this singular material world is shared, circumstances are not. Embodiment and where (which) bodies can go, what they can say or do is my bias. At time of writing, play isn't a purge for me, but an act of interfacing with the desire to purge in the first place. For folks who struggle to sit because they're ashamed of their bodies or feel it's a wasteful use of time, the grass being not real is a boon, because it makes things safer.
I exchanged with a range of people this past weekend, as it was my legal birthday. About 2/3 are finding comfort in doing exactly the same things they've always done out of fear or habit. The other third is frantically organizing rapid response teams. I would like the load to be shared, but would settle for them to come together to hear each other's responses to this moment, whether a new headline or Sam's prompt for the 2 of cups.
It is certainly an effort, one I’m definitely still teasing out myself, so I appreciate your interest, investment, and this opportunity to clarify/expand the post.
+1 for Pirandello. I love it when my theatre degree overlaps with games.
A growing concern of mine is how the very human need to find meaning in the world can create narrative prisons / prisms through which we see the world, and thereby miss reality for the story we impose over it. I've been especially focused on how the need for these narratives has come to eclipse our public life -- but you wisely point out that these narratives blind us to truths about ourselves, too.
Paul Czege writes about journaling games: "They are acts of purging ourselves of narratives that aren't in our interests and enlivening ourselves *for* the temporal world, and we sense it about them."
Sam's "Death of the Author" is a brilliant instantiation of that idea, making the idea of narrative control itself quite literal. It is, of course, impossible to shed falsehood when we play with words -- reading the words "touch grass" is very much *not* touching grass! But I am so very interested and invested in your effort to try.
That Czege quote is so deep. I use it a lot when talking about journaling games.
Thank you for this comment, Gene! I really like the plurality of the prisons/prisms, and would personally extend that to the singular reality referenced.
While this singular material world is shared, circumstances are not. Embodiment and where (which) bodies can go, what they can say or do is my bias. At time of writing, play isn't a purge for me, but an act of interfacing with the desire to purge in the first place. For folks who struggle to sit because they're ashamed of their bodies or feel it's a wasteful use of time, the grass being not real is a boon, because it makes things safer.
I exchanged with a range of people this past weekend, as it was my legal birthday. About 2/3 are finding comfort in doing exactly the same things they've always done out of fear or habit. The other third is frantically organizing rapid response teams. I would like the load to be shared, but would settle for them to come together to hear each other's responses to this moment, whether a new headline or Sam's prompt for the 2 of cups.
It is certainly an effort, one I’m definitely still teasing out myself, so I appreciate your interest, investment, and this opportunity to clarify/expand the post.