Play-Doh Flower by Robert S. Donovan
This is something I’ve been playing around with in the back of my mind for a few years now. I’d like to thank Sherri over at Serene Journey for reminding me how much fun play-doh is, and for providing a recipe to make it cheaply at home.
I really think this post would work better a a visual presentation, but since I can’t very well come to everyone’s home with a jar of play-doh to demonstrate, I suppose we’ll all just have to use our imaginations. Of course, if you already have some in your home, feel free to play along 
Play-doh is marvelous stuff. Play-doh encourages cooperation. So long as everyone has their own equal amount of play-doh to work with, there’s very few arguments. Kids get busy creating their own little playthings, and don’t worry about what their playmates are making. Sometimes, they make something that they’re really proud of, and show it off to the others, but generally speaking, they worry about themselves and what they are doing. There’s very little judgment around the play-doh table.
Play-doh is extremely flexible. You can bend it, twist it, stretch it, roll it around, and turn it into almost any shape you can imagine. You can give it a male shape, or a female shape, or leave it as an amorphous blob. You can make a laughing fat man, or a skinny man with a beard. You can make a young girl or an old woman. You can make animals, or even creatures that don’t exist in the “real” world such as dragons or fairies. You can make people with wings or the heads of animals. The possibilities are only limited by your imagination. You can spend hours playing with play-doh, and never make the same shape twice.
You can break play-doh up into smaller pieces, and then use those pieces to make even more complex and unusual shapes. You could make a little play-doh family, and act out their stories such as a father playing with his son, or a mother teaching her daughter the secrets of womanhood. You could even make an army of play-doh soldiers and have them fight against another little army of play-doh monsters. When you’re done with that, you can squish them all back together into a single lump of potential.
No matter how you bend it or shape it, play-doh usually stays the same until you are ready to change it into something else. And when you’re ready, play-doh is too. It doesn’t mind that you’ve changed it’s shape or broken it apart and squished it back together. It’s always play-doh.
You can lose yourself in play-doh. It’s therapeutic and meditative in nature. It’s real easy to slip into the present with play-doh, and forget your troubles and worries for a while.
God is a lot like play-doh.
Love Always.
Jay
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I’d pay good money to have you come to my house to make a play-doh presentation, Jay.
I haven’t read a better argument for making or purchasing play-doh than yours, too. (Nice!)
I can remember, as a kid, feeling the cool glob in my palm, and the excitement the times when my mom actually bought a new can from the dime store – often we made our own play-doh at home. I love the smell of it – kind of salty and tangy-sweet. I can remember wanting to eat it. (ha)
I can remember accidently leaving out a blob, too, and getting in trouble because it became hard and non-functional.
Most often, I can remember play-doh bringing us four siblings together, as opposed to beating up on each other, as we played in our own little worlds at the same big table. You’re right, Jay, I don’t ever remember us fighting over our play-doh. Play-doh may have been the glue that held us together all those years.
Great post, Jay! I love how you can make such interesting reading out of a blog of paste.
You are amazing.
Lori´s last blog ..Nature is Music
@Lori – For future reference, if you leave the play-doh out overnight again, you can knead water into it a few drops at a time, and it will reconstitute
But more importantly…you’d pay good money to have me demonstrate the spirituality of play doh? Hmmm Perhaps there’s my calling in life!
Hi Jay,
I love it. What a great use of imagery.
So all along when I was having fun play-doh, I essentially was having a spiritual experience.
Very cool…kind of reminds me of how the answers we are looking for are usually in front of us but we just don’t see it.
Nadia – Happy Lotus´s last blog ..The September Issue of My Life
@Nadia – Thanks! I’m glad you like it. Yes, when you were playing with play-doh, you were having a spiritual experience. I love it when that happens! Learning life lessons should always be that much fun, don’tcha think?
Ok. I promise from now on never to discourage the littles from playing with play-doh again. I will gladly clean up all the mess if it means they are experiencing some time with the Divine. I may even join in next time. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this. Love it, as usual.
Jill´s last blog ..Now I can just breathe
@Jill – Yes, I highly encourage joining in! Not only is it fun, but it has a way of soothing the soul that just can’t be beat. I’m glad you liked the article!
Great post! You totally captured and conveyed all the visuals here… I Love Play-Doh!
When I even think of play-doh I think of that smell it had (does it still have it? I haven’t had any in so long!) Breaking out the play-doh was always so exciting because you never KNEW what you were going to end up creating, what would work and what wouldn’t, and how it would all turn out in the end. But, no matter what, it was still always play-doh.
Playing with play-doh was always an adventure of endless possibilities, where you could be at one with your imagination, in a place where mistakes didn’t matter. What a time.
Yes, God is a lot like Play-doh.
Miche´s last blog ..An Easy-to-Remember Strategy to Prevent Burnout
I can smell the Play-doh from here! What a fun and fantastic comparison to make. I’ll admit, at first I was thinking, “Where is he going with this?” Then when I read, “When you’re done with that, you can squish them all back together into a single lump of potential…” I got it.
And since we’re all God incarnate, that must mean that we’re all Play-doh, too! Just please, PLEASE do not mix me with a bunch of other colors and turn me into that swampy blah brown color that happens when the colors are all mixed and matched. (smile)
I wanna make a fairy!
Megan “JoyGirl!” Bord´s last blog ..Feeling Prosperous
@Miche – “…in a place where mistakes didn’t matter.” Yes, I think that’s another really good analogy between the Divine and Play-Doh. You can interpret God in any way you want, and so there’s no such things as “mistakes”, and since there are none, they don’t matter.
Good point!
@Megan – I don’t think you could ever be part of a “blah” anything. Your color always shines, dear one. Have fun making fairies!
I never had Play-Doh as a kid, but as an adult I did get into polymer clay for a while. I think making art is always restoring, even if it’s only done in play (or maybe especialy if). I remember how hard it was to clean the tiny balls of red Play-Doh out of the carpet after having a couple of kids over for a Play-Doh session. They made tiny “spiitballs” and bombarded each other. Not exactly peaceful, but these were very stressed kids.
Dot´s last blog ..Comment on Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes by Jannie Funster
Holy cow, Jay — you just might be the Master of Analogy. Your word picture comes to life, and the life lesson you present is just RIGHT THERE, easy pickin’s for anyone who reads.
With God, with us, with Play-Doh, all things are possible — even to reconsitituting the hardened stuff. Kinda profound, I think; thanks!
@Dot – I agree. Making art is always restoring. I think that’s why there are so many art therapists in the world. It really is a good way to work through things.
@Jeanne – I’m glad you enjoyed it! Master of Analogy, eh? I can live with that!
I’m glad this reached you on a more profound level, too. That’s what I was aiming for!
Like Megan I can smell it at first thought. I love your imagination. I agree God is like Play-doh and this is a great title for a book. Writin one?
Love it! Play-doh is big in my house, as I’m sure you can imagine, and I love this analogy. I did laugh at Megan’s comment though, because pretty much all our Play-doh colors have been combined. But that’s kind of a nice analogy too, maybe, in terms of us getting over all our artificial divisions ‘down here’ at the incarnate, molded level.
Lisa (mommymystic)´s last blog ..Musings on PEACE, in Honor of International Peace Day
Yeah, to get totally metaphysical about this, we could think of everything that exists as just manifestations of consciousness or the divine play-doh. Then the idea of death becomes less frightening, as it’s just the casting of the play-doh into a new shape, not a change in its nature.
Hi Jay:
Thank you for a great post and getting deep about play-doh. I just went to my friend’s daughter’s birthday party this weekend and encountered my first neon orange play-doh. It was pretty cool and I created a little person. I felt like I was five again and lost track of time for a while – so very cool.
Tim´s last blog ..Arrr! It’s Talk Like a Pirate Day!
@Tess -I’ve been thinking abut it (writing a book). Not sure if I want to write non-fiction about spirituality, or fiction about swords and sorcery, but I’ll figure it out someday
@Lisa – I didn’t even think about it from that angle…us getting over our own divisions…but that’s another great point! Since we’re all made out of the same stuff, all of our differences are just superficial. Great insight! Thank you!
@Chris – Oh, I like that! That’s another great insight that I didn’t see. At death, we’re not really losing anything, we’re just changing form. Thanks!
@Tim – To me, that’s one of the best things about play-doh – it’s ability to bring us fully into the present moment, and forget about everything else for a while. It frees us from regrets over the past, and worries about the future, and lets us simply enjoy the moment.
Brilliant! I will now look at play doh in a whole new light. I usually cursed the stuff as it some how always got smashed into my carpet and ended up in dark places….lol.
God as play doh…good stuff!
Peace.
Caroline´s last blog ..Bittersweet
So, when I mix the colors… that’s like all the religions of the world coming together into One. Right?
I’m about to go get Hunter’s neatly organized containers, dump out all the colors on the table, and mix them up carefully, with U-2’s “One” playing in the background…
One love
One blood
One life
Lisis | Quest For Balance´s last blog ..Adventure: How to Get From Fear to Faith
@Caroline – I think every parent curses the stuff when it gets lodged in the carpet…I know I do! I’m glad you enjoyed the post.
@Lisis – Yes, that’s it exactly. When you mix all the play-doh together, it’s like all the world’s religions coming together as one. And excellent use of the lyric quote! You made me smile
Jay,
Ahh…play-doh! Fun stuff! And I love your analogy here! God and play-doh. And I think that “God Play-Doh” shines brightest when we take it out of the container – when we let the “Play-Doh” within our soul out…
Lance´s last blog ..If It Matters, Choose to Show Up
This is such a unique and wonderful post! I agree with Tess that this would make a great book title! Get busy man! (Grin!) Loved this!
@Lance – I agree! Play-doh (and God) is no good if we keep it locked up inside all the time. As the song says: “You have to let your soul shine…”
@Diantha – I’m glad you liked it! As for the book, I’m on it!
Jay -
You make me want to go out and get some play-doh! I love your perception of the world.
Carol
Not to mention that it is also a very fitting metaphor for the capabilities of human soul.
@Carol – Thanks! I have a different perspective from most people, so it’s always nice to know that it is appreciated.
Sunny – That’s a very good point, my friend! Our soul, because it is the spark of the Divine that lives within us, is also capable of being stretched and shaped in any way; allowing us to grow as people. Thanks for bringing that up!
Oh, my God! I just love this… I’ve been trying for years now to get a handle on the whole drop-of-seawater-is-part-of-ocean-and-one-with-ocean, no matter where you take it or what you transform it into, and I do believe we’re all one with the God/dess/Universe/Booming Haha/Nothingness, whatever you’d like to call it — and it’s getting easier with time and practice, but I think some early religious conditioning keeps kinda getting in the way.
You’ve just given me a wonderful little metaphor to integrate this further into my consciousness. Plus, you’ve made me want to get out the play-doh again.
This was my first intro to your blog. I’ll definitely be reading more. Great writing!
Meredith´s last blog ..déjà vu