This was a phrase that was commonly used in the early days of Arcosanti - in its heyday during the 70s. Looking back it seems it was almost a rallying cry among devotees of the project: "Work Hard/Play Hard/Teilhard". This phrase become incorporated into the culture of Arcosanti at that time and then faded later when the enthasium for the project became less pronounced.
Key elements of Teilhard de Chardin's philosophy had been incorporated by Soleri's Arcology Thesis, particularly the notion of the Noosphere as a universal planetary consciousness that was linked to the emergent human consciousness/ transcendence process of which modernization seemed a key precipitating factor towards a larger encompassing concept of human and global oneness.
The implication of the phrase "Work Hard/Play Hard/Teilhard" was to create a cycle of living and evolving at Arcosanti by the workers involved in its construction.
Paolo Soleri was also heavily influenced by the Protestant Work Ethic. He expected others to work at a similar level of dedication to him in order to be initiated into the co-creation process of Arcosanti.
Within Arcosanti's nascent community at that time the idea of "play hard" was a hard core notion of play and creativity which might have been considered part of the birthing process of Arcosanti/Arcology Urban Effect.
To break it down into its major components:
Work Hard - Hard work was a central theme of Soleri's work and values. He encouraged his workers and volunteers to emulate this perspective particularly as it related to developing Arcosanti as an effective and compelling model for the larger values and vision of the project.
Play Hard - This could be interpreted as not simply hard partying but also a strong desire and encouragement of creative experimentation within the social dynamic of the project. This often led to plays and events that were often looked back upon as powerful cultural events and milestones.
Teilhard - Incorporation of selected philosophy into the discussion that focuses on self-examination, introspective and self-reflection in a process of continuous improvement in doing things at Arcosanti so that the higher meaning, value and ideals could be realized in discussions led by Soleri and his assistants.
It was in this process that eventually a point would be reached in the evolution of the project that the consciousness of the worker would be enough that they upon reaching a certain level of development of Arcosanti that they could take more responsibility in the operation and management of Arcosanti. At the process of this transformation and metamorphasis the worker graduated to become an active participant in the evolution of the Arcology becoming citizen, stakeholder