Spirituality and Play

As you all know, I am reading a book on the disciplines by Dallas Willard. The first part of the book has been mostly about the importance of the role of the body in redemption. If you know me, you know how I feel about the disconnect placed upon the "spirit" and the "body". I don't make such a division, because I prefer to think of the human person as a whole being incapable of being "divided" into parts and still exist as a human person. This, I fear, is a result of the Platonic image imprinted on our worldviews in Western civilization. It has caused much harm in Christian circles, including the "I'm a spirit that has a soul that lives in a body" concept thats just irritating. This is not to mention the "immortality of the soul" idea that many western Christians have accepted. This even frustrates me in the wonderful music of U2... in Yahweh, Bono sings "take this soul, stranded in some skin and bones..." that frustrates me. Anyway, thats not the point of this post... I wander down a rabbit trail.
In the book, Willard is talking about the importance of play. He gives an analogy of the sexually frustrated pastor who runs off with the church organist because for a few days what he really wanted to do was forget about God and go play golf. Willard notes how this "shadow" aspect of the human person is holy in God's sight, even necessary to live balanced and whole. Then, Willard quotes a passage from Ecclesiastes 7.16, which I find amazingly relevant to the current discussions taking place in the comments sections of my post, "Do not be excessively righteous and do not be overly wise. Why should you ruin yourself?"

Just some food for thought.