Adam Blatner, M.D.

Spontaneity may be cultivated, celebrated, and enjoyed far more that most people realize. In our book, The Art of Play: Helping Adults Reclaim Imagination & Spontaneity (Brunner/Mazel, 1997), we describe the psychological foundations of spontaneity, discuss the cultural factors that inhibit this natural dynamic, and offer some practical methods for redeeming this resource of vitality in life.

A number of scholars have noted the prevalence of play elements in culture and also, if one looks at it afresh, the necessity for spontaneity in most aspects of learning and creative development. One of the few theorists who noted this was Jacob L. Moreno, M.D. (1889-1974), a psychiatrist who was one of the pioneers of group psychotherapy, improvisational theatre, and role theory, and the inventor of the methods of psychodrama, therapeutic role playing, and sociometry (a way to assess the dynamics of rapport in group dynamics-a recognized approach in sociology in the 1950s). Moreno's unique contribution was to note that the most effective way to promote creativity was through improvisation, getting warmed-up, involved, and exploring by doing, rather than by simply sitting and contemplating.

Indeed, Moreno's ideas were fueled by a spiritual insight that was similar to that of the philosopher, Henri Bergson (who Moreno acknowledged as an influence) and the process philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead and Charles Hartshorne (whose work Moreno hadn't known): Creativity is an ultimate metaphysical category, a way the Divine operates in the cosmos. Spontaneity may be discerned as part of life's exploratory urge and also part of what makes life fun! Each discovery includes also the enjoyment of the breaking-through into consciousness of the power of the creative functions within the subconscious mind. It's as if, in improvising, people end up smiling as they feel-think, "Gee, I didn't know I had that in me!"

Children being educated in a system oriented to knowing the "right" answers and suffering negative consequences for "not knowing" or "making mistakes," tend to lose much of their spontaneity. Only occasionally (perhaps rarely) is improvisation taught in art, music, singing, dancing, philosophizing, and so forth. Lest the idea of "teaching" spontaneity seem like an oxymoron, the actual nature of the educational process should be recognized as being more like facilitating. A true teacher helps students to relax and become more playful, and to open to the natural flow of imagery and intuitive impulse that flows through the mind easily, if it is allowed to. Education that values spontaneity necessarily involves a process of unlearning the old mode of concern about accuracy or certainty; there is also re-learning to dare to make inferences, guesses, and to easily recoup when a guess turns out to be un-workable. Psychologically, transformative education involves (among other things) a de-sensitization to shame, re-framing shame as an innate discomfort generated in the nervous system when any mistake is discerned. Mistakes need to be interpreted as being no more problematical than the transient discomfort of coldness and wetness when going into or coming out of a swimming pool: "Oops, that didn't work. Oh, well, let's try something else."

Spontaneity is part of our natural heritage. Even Winnie-the-Pooh, the bear of very little brain who is the protagonist of a popular and established series of books and Disney movies, was innocent enough to make up a little tune and lyric as he trudged through the snow, the point being that one need not be all that clever to be spontaneous. Yet the very mention of this word intimidates so many people: "Me? Oh, I can't be spontaneous." In the Art of Play, a type of creative drama for adults, people find themselves gently and gradually moved through a series of warm-up exercises in a context of play.

The nature of play is complex, but has as a fundamental feature a kind of safety. Since play operates in a category of "as-if," actions in this context don't "count" as they do in non-play settings. That's what allows puppies and lion cubs to engage in rough-and-tumble mock battles without actually getting hurt. There are communicative signs at several levels, operating even without words and with rapid feedback that modulate the action. Children, too, often signal a play meaning rather than serious meaning just with a look, and they begin to learn this naturally in the give-and-take play of peek-a-boo and other childhood games-games that are improvised and enjoy the challenge of an occasional introduction of novelty and surprise.

The story-like nature of life is learned in childhood as a kind of Gestalt-more of a drama than as abstract principles of cognition. Kids take on roles as if they were in a play, and improvise not only at the level of the roles they're playing-fireman, or mommy, or superhero-but also at a higher level where the role playing itself is modulated. For example, under certain circumstances -having to go to the bathroom, another kid playing too rough, being called for lunch-a child might cut the action by saying, "King's X" or "time out." It is as if they play the parts of not only the actors, but also the playwright, director, and audience as the flow of action proceeds.

Later in life, in order to capture and control this vital energy, the tendency to "get organized" and to involve grown-ups leads to the idea that it might be better if someone else-a grown-up-writes the script, and the kids then can memorize it and practice it. It would be so much more polished. Folks seemed not to realize that the trade-off for a more polished drama is a stifling of spontaneity and draining of vitality. We need to recognize that there can be a great deal of fun even in the less-polished but more authentic reality process of improvisation. Happily, more improvisational and interactive types of drama are being recognized as being both enlightening and entertaining. (The author is presently editing a book about these many different approaches.)

Another shift that has been occurring in the last few decades is the recognition that there can be many types of game playing that don't require anyone to "lose"-a social custom that increases the fear of "doing it wrong." There is a place for competition, but perhaps it need not dominate the culture so completely. Since imagination and spontaneity are rather sensitive to anxiety, these wonderful potentials are sacrificed in the context of competition.

It is time to redeem spontaneity as a natural source of vitality and insight, creativity and pleasure. These qualities should not be overly thought of as being part of childhood-there's no reason why adults can't integrate such capacities in their everyday life! We must differentiated between the child-ish and the child-like, and preserve and cultivate the latter dimensions of life.

The Art of Play is available from the author as a paperback book, 200 pages, for $25 (in the USA) and $30 for international shipments. For more information visit www.blatner.com/adam/