We Play for the Sheer Joy of Play

Welcome to Solvitur Ambulando, which means "Solve It By Walking." On this journey, we explore the alchemic potency of walking for sorting through life's puzzles, exploring our world, and transforming ourselves. Like a good walk, you will encounter distinctive ideas, remarkable people and gorgeous scenery. I hope you will enjoy a beautiful walk today. And if you like what you read and hear, pleaseIn this episode of “Walks of Life,” we have a great treat. Joining me is Katy Bowser Hutson. Katy has written a book of poetry, Now I Lay Me Down to Fight, about her way through cancer. Now she is writing a book called Play Book, about how the notions of play and playfulness weave through Scripture. I recently got to meet Katy in Nashville, along with our amazingly creative friend Alice Smith. It was such a joy and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed following Katy’s progress on Play Book through her Substack, Katy Plays. And I cannot wait to read the book when it comes out. As I’ve reflected on my discussion with Katy, a few points have struck me:* Katy mentions how Play Book “is the natural consequence of everything I’ve done in my life.” That comment reminded me of a recent “The Narrative” podcast epsiode with Ghost Agency CEO Adam Delehanty: “Don’t follow your passion; surrender to your destiny.” We hear so often, “follow your passion,” and I’ve found that unhelpful advice. Many of us have many passions, so which one do we follow? Or do we follow some or many or all of them? But the sense that Katy gives us is of a natural progression in life. That makes a of of sense to me. * We talk about play and seriousness — how they seem quite similar and also very different. It reminds me of Roger Federer. Yes, he had serious things at stake as he played tennis — money, rankings, prestige and so on. But he so clearly viewed it and felt tennis as a game, as play. Here we get into tricky advice — such as “you must be desireless.” Well, if I am desiring to be desireless, um, don’t I still have … a desire? True, and yet, the wisdom of the ages speaks clearly — it seems paradoxical and yet that is the aim. So perhaps with play and seriousness — we must run the narrow gamut that seems to separate them, and acknowledge that space is as but a shadow.* Katy tells us she is writing this book for adults. Kids innately intuit play — they are playful beings. As we age, life beats the play from us. In the modern, hyper-scheduled, everything’s rushed world, we adults must rekindle the fire of play inside us. * At one point, Katy says, “play is voluntary and self-forgetting.” At their best, so are prayer and meditation. Back to the relationship of play and seriousness. * As you’ll hear, in this process of writing Play Book, she is exploring ways to infuse play into her life. There is concordance between approach and output. It reminds me of Edward Tufte’s The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. If you’re going to write a book about displaying data, you might have a particular approach about … about showing data. I recall him telling us in one of his classes: “I couldn’t find a publisher who would print this book and the data the way they needed to be shown. So I created my own publishing house to show the data the way they need to be shown.” Again — concordance between approach and output matters. I loved this talk with Katy! She is witty, fun, imaginative and supremely attuned to language. I hope you enjoy this conversation too!Episode NotesKaty’s Substack, “Katy Plays”Katy’s personal siteKaty’s poetry book, Now I Lay Me Down to FightThe Practice by Seth GodinTroy Cady and PlayfullThe God Who Plays by Brian EdgarThe Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der KolkChrist Plays in Ten Thousand Places by Eugene PetersonOn the Unseriousness of Human Affairs by Fr. James V. Schall, SJSecond Act by Henry Oliver (and listen to my interview with him here)“Kingfishers Catch Fire” by Gerard Manley Hopkins, contained in this edition of his worksThe Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius LoyolaFr. Pedro ArrupeBlackwing pencilsSailor fountain pensLeuchtturm 1917 notebooks (Katy uses size A4 with blank pages)Switchyards Neighborhood Work Club (Katy’s co-working space) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.sa.life