World Game for Children and Adults
1/ World Game for Children
The World Game encourages spontaneity, trust in oneself, and being in the flow of the moment. There are no mistakes, and no experience is required. There is nothing to accomplish, no place to reach. Because it is playful, it can flow joyfully and become a celebration of life.
When one is very young… there is always, in the dreams of the child, a kind of aspiration, which for the child’s consciousness is a sort of ambition, for something which would be beauty without ugliness, justice without injustice, goodness without limits, and a conscious, constant success, a perpetual miracle. Children should be taught, … this is what should guide your life, organise it, make you develop in the direction of the true reality which the ordinary world calls illusion.
— The Mother
The children go through their individuation process, and in the young children who come to me, we see this reflected in their creations. Our starting point for the World Game is that nothing is wrong with the children, the children are ne as they are and that we aren’t trying to “fix” anything, but to let them unfold.
With the World Game in Auroville, we offer an opportunity to be creative, to be able to express our own individuality and our unique, living soul.
You can also read about sandplay traditions in Auroville
A Typical Session
Eden, a ten-year old boy, arrives at my house on his little cycle. He greets the dog Sati who is always excited to see a child arriving. Eden knows him. He picks up a stick in the garden and starts playing with the dog as he moves towards the house. Very often Eden notices something in the garden: a new flower that has bloomed, a special butterfly, a little bird’s nest. Then he enters the room and his eyes light up at seeing all the objects displayed on shelves and in many little baskets. Straight away he looks for his favourite figurines, some knights, or some play mobil, and places them in the container filled with sand. I choose music which I feel fits the mood, sit down quietly and observe. Eden relates a story of what happened at school during the week, while looking for the next objects to choose to create his little world of today. He grows silent while concentrating on making his very particular small world, filled with magical elements. He tells me a little about his world as he creates it. His story is spread out in the sand.
Children are invited to be true to themselves, to get in touch with and express their deeper dreams. Indeed, it may be a way to change the world if we believe that the dreams of children today are the realities of tomorrow.
This is an excerpt from the book Glimpses of Wonder.
Stories by Kids
What Kids think about World Games
2/ World Game for Adults
Inspired by the renowned practice of sandplay therapy, the World Game helps to explore your dreams and your inner mandala, or helps you work through emotions in a simple and creative way.
- You can come with a specific topic, dream, or feeling you want to work on, or let yourself be guided in the moment to create an image in the sand — your personal “world of the moment.”
- It can also be used as a vision board for the New Year, a new endeavor, or as a thoughtful birthday gift to yourself
- The World Game can be a complete one time experience, or a journey with multiple sessions; having a conversation with your created world, entering a portal that reveals more layers and meanings.
It is an opportunity to be creative, to be able to express our own individuality and our unique, living soul.
What Adults think about World Games
“It was a very fluid, immersive and spontaneous experience, with all that
one can choose from, play with and place in one’s world. What was being
built revealed a lot about my life trajectory and future orientation.” – Anandi
The World Game also as a birthday gift...
you to gift yourself with a quiet moment in a harmonious place, to have
your heart open like a child, and create a world coming from that space
in yourself which knows the true and beautiful.
“Yes, it is truly a special day in one’s life. It is one of those days in the year when the Supreme descends into us – or when we are face to face with the Eternal – one of those days when our soul comes in contact with the Eternal and, if we remain a little conscious, we can feel His Presence within us. If we make a little effort on this day, we accomplish the work of many lives as in a lightning flash. That is why I give so much importance to the birthday -because what one gains in one day is truly something incomparable. And it is for this that I also work to open the consciousness a little towards what is above so that one may come before the Eternal. My child, it is a very very special day, for it is the day of decision, the day one can unite with the Supreme Consciousness. For the Lord lifts us on this day to the highest region possible so that our soul which is a portion of that Eternal Flame, may be united and identified with its Origin.
This day is truly an opportunity in life. One is so open and so receptive that one can assimilate all that is given. I can do many things, that is why it is important.
It is one of those days when the Lord Himself opens the doors wide for us. It is as though He were inviting us to rekindle more powerfully the flame of aspiration. It is one of those days which He gives us. We too, by our personal effort, could attain to this, but it would be long, hard and not so easy. And this – this is a real chance in life – the day of the Grace.”
The Mother