At its best, channeling offers fertile ground for play — not in the sense of foolish amusement, although some will insist on seeing it that way, but something closer to Johan Huizinga's definition of play as "voluntary activity . . . having its aim in itself and accompanied by a feeling of tension, joy and the consciousness that it is 'different' from 'ordinary life.'" A notable feature of many channeling events is the prevalence of subtle meta-messages that say, in effect, "I am playing at being a spirit."
— Michael F. Brown, The Channeling Zone