Anthropologist Jane Briggs travelled to the Arctic in the 1960s and asked the Inuit, who at that time still lived in igloos and kept their traditions, to receive her and help her survive. She lived among them for a year and a half, and learnt their language. She observed in detail how drama is used to educate and teach children. When a child gets a tantrum, bites a parent, they are not scolded or punished but, rather, are shown in a playful way that involves the child what their action does to others (for example, the bite hurts the child's mother). They are not taught in words, especially not in angry words, but by playing out the situation, sometimes by dramatically magnifying it, how they can handle their own tempers and other people. The child and their parents tell and play stories together about life, relationships and conflict resolution. Briggs was impressed by the serenity and peace of the Inuit and saw herself, in comparison, as a fierce, excessive being, and learnt a lot from them.

Role playing is almost instinctive, and, just as children do it on their own without any encouragement, it was part of our human civilization even before the invention of writing: we told and played stories to each other.

Role playing was made into an art by Greek drama. In the tragedy, viewers were able to encounter the topics that occupied them as well, to experience the communal, collective nature of their own history, and thus to experience ‘catharsis’ – a state of stir, exaltation, relief and spiritual purification. The Greek word catharsis means purification.

In the 16th–18th centuries the commedia dell’arte took theatre to the streets, to the people, using improvisational elements. But the scenes were performed by professional actors. The liberating spirit of the 20th century broke this barrier: more and more people recognized the healing, teaching and transforming power of drama, improvisation and role playing, and began to use it consciously, for example, in progressive education. These techniques could be a great help in our quest for a good life.

One can give recipes for a flourishing life, create supportive external conditions, but this will not happen without personal experience and transformation.