Playing Our Work
A Providential Understanding
Sarah Baumgartner Thurow
January 1, 1996
We have in our culture an unfortunate and unhealthy way of understanding the relationship between work and play. My purpose here is to examine our understanding
of work and play in order to bring to light an alternative that is both more healthy-that is, truer to nature as well as better for us-and also more fortunate, that is, promising richer rewards.
We speak about work in at least four different ways: (1) Work in the physical sense is energy expended, and to work is to exercise or use energy. (2) The second meaning we will call the factural from the noun facture, meaning the act or method of making something, or the thing made. A work in this sense is a thing made or done, an object or deed resulting from human action, and to work is to make or do some thing. (3) Work in the economic sense is an activity for which one receives pay, and to work is to act so as to receive pay. (4) Work in the biological sense is the proper functioning of an organ, limb, or other part of an organic or ecological whole (or by analogy, a mechanical system), and to work is to perform the proper function. We also speak of play in four senses, although in this case it is useful to look at the usage as much as the meaning: (1) Play can mean energetic, brisk, or free movement, such as playing a sport, swordplay, or the play of light on a reflective surface. (2) Play can mean the performance of instrumental music, such as playing the violin or playing Mozart's violin concerto. (3) Play can mean anything done for amusement or diversion, such as playing a game or children at play. (4) Play can mean a dramatic production, the composition produced, and the activity of acting a part. There is an interesting correspondence between the four senses ...
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