[sunbug]

Appreciate your kind words James.
Tricksters are fun for sure! Isn’t there a cross over into “holy fool?” Seems like Joseph Campbell mentioned that once or perhaps I gleaned it from somewhere else.
“In Praise of Folly,” very interesting!
And I’m familiar with jester figures (have danced a few!)

As for Tolkien ah yes! Not all who wander are lost! And I have delved deeper into some of that background before: Lays of Beleriand and have slipped into a few pages of the Silmarillion, which fascinates me with its Song Creation Tale. Music and Myth interwoven.
Also fascinating is Tolkien’s claim in one article (wish I could remember) that he felt part of those stories were written through him. That’s psyche deep for sure! Tolkien insisted not allegory, but more of an “imagined,” history. So back to imagination again.
You ask about the desire to play James…sometimes I wonder if it is a searching for re-connection with something lost? Or a larger part of the human spirit? Maybe the difference between “play,” being a “trivial pursuit,” or a “joyous one.”
The latter, I feel might open more doors?

 

And there are many realms of “play.”John mentions “comic con,” and there are “Ren Faires,” too.

Since you mentioned Shakespeare: to play, a play, players on the stage?

Some of the perceptions on the theme of this month, also mention a balance and how riddles and word play keep one from taking themselves too seriously.
Of course if you are in a dangerous riddle game with high stakes, you might disagree!
Or maybe it’s that old epitaph of when you loose something, sometimes you find it when you stop looking for it!
Though I’m not sure that is a proper riddle at all! (heh heh.)
But maybe, some part in the mind and psyche knows play is necessary for clarity as much as concentration.

Concentration is fine as long as it does not generate stress. Or maybe play means making space for the mind to imagine, so it can return to “this world” refreshed and renewed.

Einstein: “imagination encompasses the whole world.”
It occurs, that some great discoveries in the world have happened  by concentration. Yet other great discoveries have happened  spontaneously! (Sometimes almost by accident! Or synchronicity!)

And thank God, those discoverers had open, willing and ready minds to process these new discoveries!

Maybe play is just a reminder to keep ourselves open to wonder with eyes to the Horizon as we all sail together on spaceship earth.

But if you want a “rabbit hole,” then there is John Lennon: “Nothing is Real.” 🎶

Because after all music can be “played” too!