Soundbites

"What if the point of faith is to set us free for something better?"
"The Spirit of God makes freedom a reality through play and games."
"Is grace something that removes us from the law or empowers us to keep the law?"
"The spirit is playful, meaning that it causes joy and delight."
"Play is grace that expresses itself through play."
"Play is the overcoming of unnecessary obstacles."

Chapters

00:00 Introduction: Faith and Freedom
07:30 The Tension Between Law and Grace
13:25 The Freedom of the Spirit
27:56 The Spirit of Play and Freedom
34:17 The Unimportance of Play's Goals and Purposes
45:45 Play as an Attitude to Life

Takeaways

1. Faith should set us free rather than restrict us.
2. The Spirit of God works through play and games to bring about freedom.
3. There is a tension between law and grace in Protestant Christianity.
4. Idolizing past patterns of faith can hinder the freedom of the Spirit.
5. The popular notion of destiny can limit our understanding of the freedom of the Spirit. Play is an attitude and an activity that brings joy, freedom, and creativity.
6. Play helps us overcome the burden of seriousness and unrealistic expectations.
7. Play is an essential part of living a meaningful life and being fully human.
8. The concept of play can be applied to various aspects of life, not just board games.
9. The podcast will transition to focus on the intersection of play and human flourishing, with the new name 'Play Saves the World.'

Links:

• Colonoscopy prep: Liquid-only diets unnecessary, GI doctor says
• Play and Freedom: Patterns of Life in the Spirit - Zahl - 2024 - International Journal of Systematic Theology - Wiley Online Library

We explore the concept of time and our relationship with it, highlighting the illusion of time management and the artificiality of modern time. We also discuss the idea of embracing our limits and the futility of trying to battle against time. Overall, the book challenges the notion that we can control time and encourages a deeper reflection on how we spend our limited time on Earth. It delves into the flawed attempts to be efficient and the instrumentalization of time in modern society. The conversation also highlights the importance of living in the present moment and the dangers of constantly living for the future. It discusses the measurement of time and how it contributes to impatience and restlessness. The conversation draws from various spiritual traditions and emphasizes the need to let go of future expectations. It explores the joy of settling and the joy of missing out, as well as the pressure to choose a path and the depth of commitment. Finally, it emphasizes the importance of focusing on the next step rather than waiting for the perfect opportunity. We emphasize the need to make time for play and challenge societal expectations that prioritize work over play. We explore the idea that play is an end in itself and can resist the Protestant work ethic. We also discuss the value of hobbies and the role of play in grounding us in the present moment. Finally, we reflect on the importance of using our time and talents well to make life more luminous for others.

Takeaways

1. Embrace the nature of time and avoid trying to make it something it's not.
2. Beware of the dangers of efficiency as an idol and the instrumentalization of time.
3. Learn to live in the present moment and let go of future expectations.
4. Develop a curiosity and openness towards challenges and problems.
5. Settle and commit to a path, finding joy in depth and commitment. Break down projects into smaller steps and focus on taking the next right step.
6. Make time for play and challenge societal expectations that prioritize work over play.
7. Recognize that play is an end in itself and can resist the Protestant work ethic.
8. Engage in hobbies and embrace the value of weird and unique interests.
9. Use your time and talents well to make life more luminous for others.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction: The Battle with Time
03:13 Lent and Time
08:23 Animals and Time
11:27 The Illusion of Time Management
13:29 4,000 Weeks: Time Management for Mortals
19:36 The Artificiality of Time
21:20 The Battle with Time
22:43 Embracing the Nature of Time
23:19 The Flawed Attempt of Efficiency
24:26 The Instrumentalization of Time
25:33 Living for the Future
26:37 The Present Moment
27:31 The Measurement of Time
28:38 Impatience and Restlessness
29:52 Expectations and Frustrations
30:50 Drawing from Spiritual Traditions
31:47 Letting Go of Future Expectations
32:28 The Joy of Settling
35:20 The Joy of Missing Out
36:42 The Pressure to Choose a Path
39:38 The Depth of Commitment
40:55 Focusing on the Next Step
41:47 Taking the Next Right Step
42:21 Breaking Down Projects into Smaller Steps
43:04 Making Time for Play
43:35 Play as an End in Itself
44:02 Letting Go of Societal Expectations
45:18 The Importance of Hobbies
46:16 The Present Moment in Play
47:26 Resisting the Protestant Work Ethic
48:37 The Value of AT-like Activities
49:24 Embracing Weird Hobbies
56:56 Using Time and Talents Well

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Christ Is More than a Remedy for Sin

• Christ became a human being not just to be a remedy for sin, but to create a new reality or a re-creation of the world. This tells us something about the nature of God: abundance, joy, and newness.
• “God's love goes beyond his mercy and beyond man's misery. So it reaches beyond the mere restoration of the sick to the healthy state of the new life” (26).
• “Only those who are capable of joy can feel pain at their own and other people's suffering. [One] who can laugh can also weep. [One] who has hope is able to endure the world and to mourn" (31).
• In faith we accept ourselves as we are and gain new confidence in ourselves because we have been trusted more than we deserve and ever thought possible." (32)
• “Games always presuppose innocence” (31)

Life Is More than Work and Purpose

• The final purpose of history is liberation from the tyranny of needing to have a purpose.
• "Life which is made meaningful by purposes and goals must find the vision of heaven terrible, since that vision only invites infinite and purposeless boredom. Christian eschatology [ideas about the end times] has never thought of the end of history as a kind of retirement or payday …" (34)

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Jürgen Moltmann, born 1926, German Reformed theologian who is Professor Emeritus of Systematic Theology at the University of Tübingen and is known for his books such as the Theology of Hope, The Crucified God, God in Creation, and Theology of Play.

Drafted 1943 to fight for Nazi Germany, surrendered in 1945 and was a POW in Belgium, became a Christian, and then was a POW in Scotland and England, then went home in 1948, earned a doctorate from the University of Göttingen in 1952, was a pastor and a professor.

Today, the first major section of the book, which is a "Holy Grail" of theological game studies out now out of print, pages 1-14. It’s dense, bruh! From another time period.

Theme 1: Is it moral to play games in a hurting world?

Psalm 126: When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter.

Happiness, joy, and laughter, are all connected to FREEDOM. A freedom in joy and play.

Human Beings are “the first liberated being in creation” – Moltmann is using a phrase from Herder, an 18th century German poet and philosopher.

“These sketches seek to reassert the value of aesthetic joy against the absolute claims of ethics.”

Not a laughter that is forced or from despair, or from mocking others, or cynical, or snobbish sarcasm. But true laughter.

But is it moral to laugh with joy in a hurting world?

"Does it not seem that the...revival of play...in the affluent West is forced and outright unnatural as long as there are...hells on earth? Homo ludens and the redemption of our right to happiness, fun, and games appear to be fine--but for those who can afford them. To all others they must appear in bad taste." (2)

"My commitment to be miserable does nothing to relieve the suffering of others. If anything, it increases the amount of suffering in the world."

Moltmann responds to the morality of gaming in a suffering world by maintaining that this book is not addressed to those who ignore suffering, but to those who are in the midst of it or who are on the precipice of despair because of it.

"When...I dare to talk about the enjoyment of our freedom and our pleasure in playing games, I am not addressing myself to those who are incapable of feeling....  I am turning to those who are mourning and suffering with others, who are protesting and feeling oppressed by the excess of evil in their society, who are weighed down by their own impotence so that they are ready to despair or seek to forget." (2)

Playing games is not about the denial of suffering, but the transformation of it.

Theme 2: Are games about freedom, or oppression?

Is this only for the privileged?

Is laughter a distraction from suffering, or a form of liberation?

“Religion is the opiate of the people" (Marx), _panem et circenses _bread and circuses for the ancient Romans. Does this apply to games too?

Are games a way to make us better workers, we forget our misery if we have some distraction? Like_ Hunger Games_ were for the districts and Panem.

Moltmann then argues that both political revolutions and theological reformations ultimately fail to bring true freedom. He is critical of both the right and the left on this point.

In the preface, he is critical of the "absolute claims of ethics" by both conservative "pharisees" and revolutionary "zealots."

He is also critical of how such movements use games and play as "relief valves" for the masses, to allow them a little simulation of freedom so that they are more willing to submit to control again.

The game Trajan is a great example of this. You have to meet your people's needs or you are punished, and the 3 needs are bread, religion, and games.

Games are seen as a means to end: they help us to "recharge" and "blow off steam" so that we can go back to being good workers again, and so that we can submit to the prevailing cultural ethic again. This is a deficient view of games. Yet, Moltmann says that even a deficient view of the value of games is better than not valuing games at all.

Moltmann maintains that real revolutions to liberate humanity have to begin not be changing how we work and organize ourselves, but changing how we play. (12)

He says we do not play games to escape the past and present (as society would have believe), but to empower us to envision a better future. Real games are about the future, not the past.

How ? "Games...afford us an opportunity to experiment with free expression and with new human relationships."  (13)

Games and play also help to free us the control of fear.

How have we personally experienced this? How have games helped to anticipate a better future for us?

Jane McGonigal's book Reality is Broken describes what we learn about human happiness through understanding the impact of games on human neurology and psychology. Human enjoy goals, rules, obstacles, a feedback system, and voluntary participation. The point of a game isn't always to win but to establish flow.

"The opposite of play isn't work. It's depression" (p. 28, quoting Brian Sutton-Smith).

GAME BREAK: Games that Have Surprised Us

The most enduring human happiness is generated within (intrinsic), not from extrinsic things such as money and power. Through satisfying work, the hope of success, social connections, and meaningful contributions we are at our happiest, and games provide exactly these things.

We will discuss Reality is Broken chapters 10-13 in 2023!

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Next episode: Spiritual Lessons of Action Selection Games

Links:

• Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World a book by Jane McGonigal
• The Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-Earth | Board Game | BoardGameGeek
• Railroad Ink: Deep Blue Edition | Board Game | BoardGameGeek
• Photosynthesis | Board Game | BoardGameGeek

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Links:

• The Grasshopper - Third Edition - Broadview Press
• Octopus Playtime | Octopus In My House | BBC Earth - YouTube
• Board Game Faith | Linktree
• Board Game Faith is creating podcasts on board games and spirituality | Patreon
• Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World a book by Jane McGonigal
• Surah Al-Hujurat - 13 - Quran.com