Serious fun

I sometimes wonder whether, given the serious issues in the world, I am right to spend so much of my time and energy on activities like croquet.  But I believe it can be justified.  Croquet and other sports and hobbies bring a great deal of happiness to a large number of people; and somebody needs to organise them!  Also these activities are often exothermic in human energy terms, i.e. they give out more than is put into them.  I believe I have more, not less, physical energy for other things as a result of spending time hillwalking; and more, not less, mental energy as a result of the mental exercise inherent in playing and organising croquet.  (Life is not a zero sum game.)  What I am left with less of is time; but then I also seem to need less sleep when I'm happy and active than at other times, which makes up for that to some extent.

I like to take my fun seriously, and have fun with the serious things too.  (It's a happy coincidence, and an inspiration to me, that my name is an anagram of "Grim Fun Scenes".)  Seriousness and playfulness need not be in conflict.

Douglas Hofstadter, who takes a similar approach, comments on this in the introduction to Metamagical Themas: "How can both Rubik's Cube and nuclear Armageddon be discussed at equal length in one book by one author?  Partly the answer is that life itself is a mixture of things of many sorts...  Life is not worth living if one can never afford to be delighted or have fun."  He goes on to remark on the links between small and large things due to the occurrence of similar mathematical structures in both.

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