SHAKE IT UP

The Midpoint Mandate or Boydate or Girldate or Womandate or Theydate - have I left anyone out?

SHAKE IT UP

The Midpoint Mandate or Boydate or Girldate or Womandate or Theydate - have I left anyone out?

Well, the first mind pop inspired by seeing Jerry Lee is to marry my 13 year old cousin like he did. Great balls of fire, that would surely move life in new directions. Trouble is I don’t have a 13 year old cousin, so that won’t work.

Back to the drawing board.

DRAW ON EXPOSITION

Don’t know about you, but I’ve taken my advice. Back to the beginning I have gone. 

By the way, my advice reiterates a lesson learned from George S. Kaufman, an excellent source of advice in all things theatrical, like our lives in the Universal Theater. He said: If you have a problem in the third act, which is where we are headed (the midpoint turns us in that direction) it is rooted in the beginning, somewhere in the first act.

At the start of our journey together I offered an invitation for us to come together as a learning community to explore identity, roles, and potentials as co-creators of our lives and the Universe we share as one. 

The emphasis is on expanding our capacity for empathy and compassion through creative practice, to experience unity with all phenomena particularly in response to current existential challenges.

“The world’s greatest joy is a sense of liberation: the complete dropping of the sense of the single autonomous 'I.'”  ~Tenzin Palmo 

Through ACTING HUMAN we seek to cultivate a supportive ensemble of active learners, to discover in myriad ways our dynamic connection to each other and the WHOLE SHEBANG. To discover mutually that the turbulence and insecurity ever more present in our lives grows out of separation from our true selves, and as a consequence from each other and the LIVING UNIVERSE. 

Having seen active and lively sharing in comment sections of other Substack newsletters I imagined we might find ourselves doing something akin. Alas, not so much. 

As I’ve said before, in my experience up close and personal this kind of creative and vibrant collaboration consistently explodes on bandstands and sound stages, in rehearsal spaces, while writing in groups, and in class rooms. 

How then to imbue this newsletter with that kind of essential life force?

HELP WANTED

I’ve recently had texts and emails from and calls with readers I didn’t know were reading. Several of them former students who have done well in the business of show, which as many of you know is in the eye of a severe storm. The rapid changes in technology, increased corporate aggregation in an atmosphere of geopolitical angst and media saturation is, to put it mildly, unsettling.

Since they acknowledge, with generous appreciation, my part in shaping their professional lives, they now wonder what I can offer in this new time. Each takes what they can from AH posts and finds what they take useful. They are, however, busy. They are working in a demanding arena, raising families, meeting financial responsibilities, and maintaining relationships. Digging in to what’s offered here is daunting. I get it.

We are on the horns of a dilemma. And the horns grow sharper by the day. Ouch!

Early on I said: 

We all act all the time.

Most of us do not notice our acting.
We create our lives. They do not “just” happen. 

While we develop skills in particular areas of our lives, we largely ignore our capacity to grow imagination and play skills. We “forget” to create a WHOLE life. 

ACTING HUMAN is about paying attention, recognizing that patience and ‘space’ to practice is critical to creating a WHOLE LIFE. Traditional ‘success’ is not enough.

Only enough is enough.

“When wisdom rules,
Horses manure fields instead of roads.
When the world lacks wisdom,
War horses are raised on the commons.              

The greatest evil: always wanting more.
The biggest mistake: always chasing desires.
The cruelest curse: always getting what we want.Only when we know what is enough
Will we always have enough.
To know enough’s enough
Is enough to know.”                              

~The Tao

“You can never be too rich or too thin!” Really?

Clinging to what we’ve been conditioned to expect and what we’ve come to believe is expected of us is at the core of painful lives, despite any and all appearances to the contrary.  We can cover but we can’t hide from ourselves as hard as we may try.

As has been beat to death in several AH posts, we embrace socially sanctioned salves and when one wound closes (temporarily), we open a new one. Always more.

Don’t believe me. Check.

Spend a quiet, gentle, empathetic, questioning, and honest moment alone. Please.

METAPHORIC MAMMAL

Life as theater is a vital metaphor that gives us a powerful, rich and fun way to see ourselves anew and transform the way we live.

The Moscow Art Theater was conceived with the intention to bring people together, create a common cause, common goals, common labor and joy, to fight banality, violence, and injustice, to serve love, and nature, and beauty.

The First Studio, influenced by Suler, extended its reach well beyond acting and into ethics, philosophy, and ‘spiritual’ practice. 

Stanislavski said: Suler believed that art — and the process by which art was made — could implant those precepts here on earth. The world was a dishonest and broken place, but people were fundamentally good and had the potential to make the world truthful and beautiful. Theater could enable this by telling the truth, and by revealing the unspoken common language that connects us all. 

Not the common language of words which, for the most part, unless carefully considered and patiently questioned, tend to obfuscate meaning and impede connection. 

The word is not the thing it names. Words simply point. 

“The map is not the territory.” ~Korzybski

ACTING HUMAN grows out of the highest and best tradition of The Moscow Art Theater, the birthplace of modern theater process. It is offered to encourage life as an infinite game (Carse) and to highlight creative ways to meet the particular challenges of our time.

“The purpose of art is to urge people to be more attentive to each other, soften their hearts, and ennoble their actions.” ~Suler

WHERE ARE WE?

In retracing the posts extant I’ve found a deep and wide thicket of valuable information along with what looks to me like sincere encouragement.

There are a few exercise/practice elements that are tried and true. The only chance of them working is if they are repeatedly done. That’s the thing about practice . . . it takes practice.

I write (mostly improvise) this stuff and I’ve only gotten through the first seven posts in the past week. I’ll push on and invite you to do so, too. What’s been written is meant to illuminate what follows. It’s exposition.

In all immodesty, there’s an overwhelming batch of worthwhile material to review.

Truth told (and why not walk the talk?) I write on Saturday, dust off a first draft and ship it to you for Sunday.

The most attractive part of doing this newsletter is the opportunity to discover my mind in the moment and interact with you so that we can help each other in a ‘creative’ and playful way.

Many of you are friends and we talk about this ’stuff’ beyond the confines of this newsletter.

Evidently, there are more of you than I knew. I’m delighted to hear from you privately, feel free to stay in touch, remember though that we can share here, too, in the comments for the benefit of all.

Almost everything I’ve done in the realm of so-called work’ has included  a ‘hang’ of some kind. Playing with others and enjoying the interaction is where I’ve found joy. The sound of music, laughter, the smiles, nods, and surprising nonsense that inevitable erupts is why I show up.

I learned to practice in early childhood. That was the price of admission. My practice at home made it possible to practice together with accomplished others who always came prepared to play. We’ve had BIG fun. 

In the weeks ahead I will continue to review and see what arises that might inform a turning point worthy of our attention and active involvement. And, we’ll surely get back to story and narrative.

It appears that in the midst of your busy lives that I can better integrate important individual, conceptual, and daily concerns with ACTING HUMAN practice if I know what they are. Please share your lives to the extent you’re just at the edge of or slightly outside of your comfort zone. Let the courage to create greater equanimity and more vibrant lives for all move you.

Life is not easy. Never was and it might be even more difficult today than yesterday. We can help each other. A primary principle of creative play - help your fellow players.

I remember addressing this before - it deserves repeating. I have no intention to do therapy. Any therapeutic value derived is a happy accident.

My take is that too much of life nowadays is seen in terms of pathology and treated in pseudo-medical fashion - as we’ve increasingly abandoned art and wisdom traditions as essential to individual and community life. We are entirely untethered in a sea of insecurity.

There are, doubtless, appropriate conditions for psych treatment. Exciting new modalities are on the horizon. I’m not adverse to psych treatment when necessary. I’ve taken friends to Bellevue. 

The healing value of life lived alive with increasing skill and deeper respect for valued legacy is almost entirely overlooked to our extreme detriment.  While there’s no quick fix, we can create new beginnings that will resonate eternally.

Pay Attention.

That said, ‘talking’ to each other in the comment section will, no doubt, uplift our time together. I’ll keep an eye out for what’s on your minds and hearts. 

It will surely influence the direction we take.

Until next time. . .

Lights Up!