But like knowledge that can be a game, playing with the moment also follows rules which lead from the sphere of the unreal into that of reality. For Winnicott, children discover and invent reality while playing; they play so that they can surprise themselves. In the game, the child discovers the self, which stands separately and differently, but in relation to the reality which it is not. Even for playing, it is central to set, shift and learn to keep to limits. Only because what 'prevails'constantly shifts is insight possible.
Separation from the mother occurs via a space, the transitional space, and with the aid of transitional objects which belong neither to internal psychological reality nor to the external one. The game has the constructive function of creating this space, which stimulates the creative abilities of the child. Winnicott develops a theory of culture as a continuation of the idea of the transitional object. The game of the child who finds an object whose creator he or she is in reality', and its continuation in the cultural creativity of the adult, take place in a space situated between the external world and internal psychological reality. For Winnicott, the ‘intermediate realm is the actual source of power for that which sets inside and outside in motion. Plunging into the intermediate realm means being able to intervene in the outside world with new energy.'32 But all this also takes place in the interim period. Creativity, the creative production of culture, requires not just space, but also time. The child has to learn to rid himself or herself of the initial illusion of his or her omnipotence so that he or she can create new illusions as an adult, in the transitional space and in the transitional time between the real and the unreal, which is not yet real. The game and its continuation as a cultural creative achievement is a great loosening-up exercise, creating subjects anew – an achievement which breaks rules and cancels systems, and thus gives the person playing the possibility of becoming a creator of culture himself or herself a little, through fruitful chaos.
The Longing for the Moment
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