Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

People are symbolic creatures, and generative symbols can help us understand the present and imagine the future. Here we describe a workshop based on the (symbolic) premise that life is composed of at least two kinds of games: the infinite game in which the key purpose is to keep the game in play and invite others in, and finite games in which the purpose is to win. The infinite game envisages a world in which all life-forms are celebrated and nurtured; finite games offer social structures that may facilitate or impede this. Using a game-like approach, the workshop invites participants to consider the values attached to the different games and takes them through a series of paper dart games that mimic infinite and finite play. Observations of 30 workshops with New Zealand adult participants (N = 1,085) and the written responses of subsamples of participants to specific exercises were used to understand the transformative potential of the workshop. It appeared to prompt awareness, reflection and choice, sharing and praxis, accompanied by a sense of depth and joy or agitation. The workshop also provided insight into how the intrinsic value of natural phenomena is appreciated under infinite game conditions and why nature becomes a “resource” under highly competitive finite game conditions. Readers are invited to obtain the workshop materials and be part of an ongoing project to develop and share the infinite game symbol. Key words: Infinite game—Symbols—Intrinsic values—Workshop—Ecopsychology—Transformative learning.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Abt

C. C.

(1970). Serious games. New York: Viking Press.

Acemoglu

, & Robinson

J. A.

(2013). Why nations fail. London: Profile Books.

Anderson

E. N.

(2013). Culture and the wild. In Kahn

P. H.

Jr. , & Hasbach

P. H.

(Eds.), The rediscovery of the wild (pp. 157–180). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

Armstrong

(2006). The great transformation. New York: Alfred A Knopf.

Berry

(1999). The great work: Our way into the future. New York: Three Rivers Press.

Bragg

(2014). Activist ecopsychology. Ecopsychology, 6, 16–18.

Campbell

(1972). Myths to live by. New York: Penguin Compass.

Carse

J. P.

(1986) Finite and infinite games. New York: Free Press.

Carse

J. P.

(2008). The religious case against belief. New York: Penguin.

10.

Chamberlain

(2000). Methodolatry and qualitative health research. Journal of Health Psychology, 5, 285–296.

11.

Christens

B. D.

, Collura

J. J.

, & Tahir

(2013). Critical hopefulness: A person-centered analysis of the intersection of cognitive and emotional empowerment. American Journal of Community Psychology, 52, 170–184.

12.

Cloud

(n.d.). The fish game. Retrieved from https://cloudinstitute.org/fish-game

13.

Davis

(2012). Sacred geography. In Kahn

P. H.

Jr. , & Hasbach

P. H.

(Eds.), Ecopsychology: Science, totems and the technological species (pp. 285–308). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

14.

Eisenstein

(2011). Sacred economics: Money, gift and society in the age of transition. Berkeley, CA: Evolver Edtions.

15.

Ferguson

(2011). The 6 killer apps of prosperity. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/niall_ferguson_the_6_killer_apps_of_prosperity?language=en

16.

Fisher

(2002). Radical ecopsychology: Psychology in the service of life. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

17.

Freire

(1996). Pedagogy of the oppressed. London: Penguin Books. (Original work published 1970)

18.

Glaser

B. G.

, & Strauss

A. L.

(1999). The discovery of grounded theory: Strategies for qualitative research. New Brunswick, NJ: Aldine Transaction. (Original work published 1967)

19.

Harré

(in press). The infinite game: How to live well together. Auckland, NZ: Auckland University Press.

20.

Harré

, Madden

, Brooks

, & Goodman

(2017). Sharing values as a foundation for collective hope. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 5, 342–366.

21.

Harré

, Milfont

T. L.

, Helton

, & Mead

(2011). Sustainability and the psychologically literate citizen. In Cranney

& Dunn

(Eds.), The psychologically literate citizen: Foundations and global perspectives (pp. 220–232). New York: Oxford Univesity Press.

22.

Hasbach

P. H.

(2013). How deep can we go?. Ecopsychology, 5, 228–230.

23.

Hillman

(1989). A blue fire: Selected writings of James Hillman ( Moore

, Ed.). New York: Harper Perennial.

24.

James

(1983). The varieties of religious experience: A study in human nature. London: Penguin Books. (Original work published 1902)

25.

Kahn

P. H.

, Ruckert

J. H.

, & Hasbach

P. H.

(2012). A nature language. In Kahn

P. H.

Jr. , & Hasbach

P. H.

(Eds.), Ecopsychology: Science, totems and the technological species (pp. 55–78). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

26.

Kelly

S. M.

(2010). Coming home: The birth and transformation of the planetary era. Great Barrington, MA: Lindisfarne Books.

27.

Lange

E. A.

(2012). Is Freirean transformative learning the Trojan horse of globalization and enemy of sustainability education? A response to C. A. Bowers. Journal of Transformative Education, 10, 3–21.

28.

Lytle

, Floryan

, & Amin

(2017). Experience, experiment, evaluate: A framework for assessing experiential games. International Journal of Serious Games, 4, 15–30.

29.

Magnussen

, & Sørensen

B. H.

(2011). Design-based action research. In Egenfeldt-Nielsen

, Meyer

& Sørensen

B. H.

(Eds.), Serious games in education (pp. 47–58). Aarhus, Denmark: Aarhus University Press.

30.

Marshall

(2009). Climate change is a symbolic event. In Marshall

(Ed.), Depth psychology, disorder and climate change (pp. 33–41). Sydney, Australia: Jung Downunder Books.

31.

McIntosh

(2012). Rekindling community: Connecting people, environment and spirituality. Totnes, Devon: Green Books.

32.

Monbiot

(2016). How did we get into this mess?. London: Verso Books.

33.

Naess

(2008). The ecology of wisdom. Berkeley, CA: Counterpoint.

34.

Nafstad

H. E.

, Blakar

R. M.

, Carlquist

, Phelps

J. M.

, & Rand-Hendriksen

(2009). Globalisation, neo-liberalism and community psychology. American Journal of Community Psychology, 43, 162–175.

35.

Nelson

(2013). Community psychology and transformative policy change in the neo-liberal era. American Journal of Community Psychology, 52, 211–223.

36.

Perspectivity. (n.d.). Perspectivity. Retrieved from http://perspectivity.org

37.

Pope Francis. (2015). Encyclical letter of the Holy Father Francis on care for our common home. Retrieved from http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html

38.

Rigney

(2001). The metaphorical society: An invitation to social theory. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.

39.

Rust

M.-J

. (2014). The grounding of ecopsychology in public debate, global alliance, language, and practice. Ecopsychology, 6, 48–50.

40.

Starhawk. (2002). Webs of power: Notes from the global uprising. Gabriola Island, Canada: New Society Publishers.

41.

Taylor

M. C.

(2007). After God. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.

42.

Turner

(2007). The geography of hope: A tour of the world we need. Toronto, Canada: Vintage Canada.

43.

Unger

R. M.

(2004). Social theory: Its situation and its task. London: Verso.

44.

Zimmerman

M. A.

(1990). Toward a theory of learned hopefulness: A structural model analysis of participation and empowerment. Journal of Research in Personality, 24, 71–86.

The Infinite Game: A Symbol and Workshop for Living Well Together

Abstract

Abstract

Get full access to this article

References