All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players.
Shakespeare's, As You Like It ( Act II, Scene VII)
We are all just actors in an improv drama. We wear different costumes, take part in different scenes, meet up with different characters, face different adversities and win different victories...but it is all just a play. Unlike the masterpieces Shakespeare created, this play is improv, so we do not know what will happen next. That, if anything, should make this whole thing more exciting.
Many of us, however, live in fear of what might show up in the next scene, so, we may choke on our lines, pull back into the shadows and fail to live out our parts fully. We may be still reeling from the last scene and unable to participate fully in this one. Sometimes we are so bored or so fed up with the challenges of the scenes we are in, we do what we can to quickly get through them in hope that the next scene will offer more. Maybe Prince Charming will arrive on his white horse to save us, or maybe the villain will be destroyed by someone. When we spend our acting effort hoping and dreaming for something better in the next scene, we do not make the most of the scenes we are in.
We also, throughout it all, think, so mistakenly, that the whole play is written and scripted around us when we are only bit actors. It isn't about us at all...we just get to be a part of it.
The costumes and make up, is overly important to us too. We care more about creating an appearance than we do about the lines we are given, or the purpose of the part. We may see ourselves at the mercy of the critiques. How we appear to others and how they appear to us becomes of upmost importance.
Most sadly, when we act out our parts we so often lose ourselves in these characters and forget that we are the actors beneath the costume and makeup, not the roles we are playing. We take it all too seriously and forget to enjoy Life.
If we could always remember that we are the actor, beneath the part, who was given this wonderful opportunity to take part in this amazing play on this incredible stage we call earth...we would simply watch ourselves perform these roles, going through the pleasant things and the unpleasant things without being attached to any of it. We would enjoy it all, without getting lost in the drama. None of it would be bad and none of it would be good. It would all just be an incredible play we get to be a part of.
Hmmm! That is what came to mind when I listened to the below podcast.
All is well.
Michael A. Singer/ Temple of the Universe (October 15, 2023) The Art of Handling Life. https://tou.org/talks/
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