World Game
The World Game encourages spontaneity, trust in oneself, and being in the ow 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.
