More than ever the season of gifts is the season of gadgets. For those who aren’t exactly sure what makes something a gadget, it boils down to this: It’s a toy for adults who are in such denial of their childish side that they childishly insist on giving their toys another label, as if that makes a difference.
There is nothing wrong with having toys, there is something wrong with needing to deny this fact. Actually, the worst thing is to have such a rigid, stifled intellect that one can no longer relate to playtime and toys.
Einstein had several playful diversions. For instance, he loved to sail, especially alone but he did like to take a scared passenger in dangerous conditions. If a storm interrupted his crucial playtime he’d often as not just keep sailing right through it. And he was a purist! He had no interest in swimming so he refused to waste time to learn how. He was not in denial of the potential use of the ability to swim once one was committed to being on the water, but it was a complication and we all know by now how the Professor felt about those. Several times he had to be rescued by passers-by who did know how to swim, but this only seemed to make it more exciting for him. He may have been the first X-Game athlete having invented the sport of sailing through jagged rock formations during lightning storms.
But what about those who had grown out of, or above, their playfulness? The Professor had devised a test. For about two decades in the middle of the last century there were several versions of a wall climbing toy available. One, made to look like a bird, was called “The Yogi Wall Climber” before the name Yogi came to refer to a bear rather than a bird. Another variant called “Lil Orbie” was meant to be an alien. Both were wind up toys that had a hidden central wheel with suction cups on it. They were supposed to climb straight up any smooth surface, but it didn’t take an Einstein to figure out they really only worked on mirrors.
Sometimes when he was forced to greet and meet new people at his home he would be nudged into talking with someone who seemed like a worthy intellect with whom to continue conversing, but he wasn’t quite sure. He would bring out the toy and set it on its course up a mirror. If the guest displayed a sense of wonder, fascination or at least a sense of play they would be given a chance to join the inner circle. If the were too sophisticated, intellectual or “grown-up” and seemed to wait him out so he could get back to serious talk, the talking was over. He would never waste his time on such a limited intellect. They could repeat all of the intelligent sounding sophisticated words and ideas an encyclopedia could hold, if this was how they rated intelligence they were idiots. If you couldn’t play, or didn’t need to, you probably couldn’t think.
Albert has summed this all up in one elegant comment, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.”
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