The concept of lila and cosmic playfulness
In Hinduism, the concept of lila is that all of life—indeed, the cosmos—is an expression of divine, cosmic playfulness.
Lila (or leela) can be loosely translated as “divine play”. The concept of lila asserts that creation, instead of being an objective for achieving any purpose, is rather an outcome of the playful nature of the divine. As the divine is perfect, it could have no want fulfilled, thereby signifying freedom, instead of necessity, behind the creation.1
Everything old is new again, indeed. This dovetails nicely with Graeber’s theory of play as the basis of physical reality, Kropotkin’s suggestion that social cooperation is a form of playfulness, a few central tenets of taoism, and so forth.
- previously: what’s the point if we can’t have fun
- see also: play gives meaning to life — if every mammal plays, and possibly every organism or quantum particle (cf. Reality Is Not What It Seems), then we’re foolish for not considering play as fundamental to life
- see also: we are wiggles, and what’s more playful than wiggles