Thursday 20 May 2021

Play in Heaven?

Is there playing in Heaven - do resurrected immortal Men play?

Well, play seems to be a spontaneous expression of vitality that in most evident in the early years of human development (and some other animals). 

So the question of whether we play in Heaven might be answerable by considering the extent to which we are 'like' children in the context of Heaven. 


Play is fuelled by the vitality of childhood - and children who are ill, sleepy or fatigued lose interest in  playing. But vitality is just fuel - a means to and end: so, what is the purpose of playing? 

Spontaneous child's play is enjoyable - which is why it is spontaneous - but why? Often, animals enjoy things that are helpful to survival and reproduction. 

Characteristically; young children's play is make-believe, or what adults term 'role-play'. Even formal sports among the young tend to be played with a strong element of make-believe - as when the child is pretending (whether secretly or publicly) to be a sporting hero. 

Make-believe is a kind of fantasy; and fantasy play is about expanding and modeling a child's own experience to include whatever he seeks and enjoys. Adventure, talking animals, fairies, heroic fighting, cooking, families, exploration, toys that are alive and conscious and can communicate... 

All such things can be understood as something from which the child is learning - as well as being fun. They are, in other words, part of the development of a child - which is why some animals (particularly mammals) also play when young. 

In heaven we expect to be immortal, and never sick or fatigued - and so can expect to have unlimited vitality. That is not a problem.

So the question of whether or not we will play in Heaven depends on whether we consider resurrected Men to be developing towards some higher spiritual state - analogously to the physical and psychological development of children in earth...

Or whether we consider resurrected Men to have arrived at a steady state of being; beyond which there is no possibility of qualitative development. 


Since I regard resurrected Men in Heaven to be on a potential developmental trajectory towards higher levels of divinity (becoming more like Jesus Christ and God the prime creator) - my inference is that we shall indeed play in Heaven - spontaneously - for much the same reasons as children play on earth.

Maybe a phrase attributed to Jesus might be taken implicitly to confirm this? 

Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 18:3)