This is not an article to sell you some stuffed toys, but about mindfulness and philosophy.
"Wake UP" Coffee house.
It is early in the morning, as you just woke up and sat on your favorite cushion in the living room, your little daughter comes and asks to be a customer in her imaginary coffeehouse. She is an early bird. "Wake UP coffeehouse", that is the name she has given to the place. She has arranged those small plastic cups, and all the plastic food, and ask you to wait until she gives you the "Imaginary Menu". You order some Hot Choclate and a burger, while she is busy preparing it you wonder into the past where you were a child.
Superheroes and Supervillains- The Army game.
You remember the times you used to play the role of the Supervillain with your siblings. Always the supervillain, as there should be someone for your brothers to defeat, when they were the Spiderman and superman. You remember even becoming a Supervillain was not as bad as it seems. You remember the hours and hours you spent in afternoons playing the Army game, it was exiting, and always left a Wow, when you can just create Jungles and high security facilities to rob, in your imagination. When there was plenty of power and recognition, given even in this imaginary play of yours. Later, you all became adults, and notice how there are real Supervillains and Superheroes conduct in the society. And you realize, the imaginary playground was not so Imaginary after all.
What is imaginative Play
Imaginary play is a kind of play which is started in toddler years of a child. Around two to three. And as years goes by, they become increasingly complex. Some examples for imaginary play include above and,
Imaginary playhouse, playing with a doll
Acting out superheroes and Supervillains.
Playing with Building blocks to make castles and vehicles
Puppet shows
Tea party
What are the benefits of imaginative play?
Obviously, I cannot emphasize, the fact that they spark the creativity of a child. And this is far advanced from an elephant calf just trying to play with its siblings. Imaginary play leads to cognitive development, social and emotional skills by letting them express their feelings and interact with other children. They also help with language development. More importantly, they will improve their creativity, so when we start to learn about mathematics, language, and more and more abstract ideas, they do not get confused.
How imaginary play is projected to adult life.
As you can see, imagination plays a bigger role even in adult life. If I say all what you are doing so called living, is imagining things, that would not be wrong, and I can prove it. I will give you simple example.
Think about Earth.
Earth does exist right? Where does this exist, right now. Just at this moment when you read this line, where does so called Earth exist? Can you see it? Can you feel the earth? You may say, I can see the part of the earth where I am in now. I can see my room or my workplace. Yet, you agree that is not the earth. You even have not seen the earth if you are not an astronaut, who went to the space. The Earth is just a concept, a mental object in your imagination. And whole your life, whenever you read or write or think about earth, you just reinforced this information sphere. Isn't it amazing to know as adults, we talk about saving our planet, Global warming and debate about Destroying our earth, our home with Nukes without knowing the basic concept of Earth is just our imagination.
If you look at carefully, everything we talk about is similar. You can understand more on our imagination
You can slow down the time, like Quick silver
You can think about collar bone philosophy
You can listen to David Foster Wallaces "This is water" if you would not believe me.
Why mindfulness is opposite of imaginary play.
As you can see and understand, we cannot communicate, and understand the world without this abstract imagination of mathematics, language and mental objects etc. However, the problem is, we get too much involved in these imaginations, and we forget, they are abstract ideas in the first place. We tend to forget, a cancer is an abstract idea, and we cry, when we are afraid of it. And only way to overcome this problem is trying to live mindfully. So, we can understand objects of mind, when they arise in the mind, and disappear in the mind. More you know it more you will understand the monster of truth. This is the main objective of the mindfulness practice, which should be emphasized again and again. Mindfulness is not a secret to success or the recipe for a calm peaceful mind. But mindfulness is the tool to understand the child within us who likes to be happy and sad when he sees the imaginary world he built is getting destroyed. This child will play until you recognize it as an adult. Hence, mindfulness is the path to free yourself from being a child.
Comments