The trickiest step on the path in the modern world is Right Livelihood. Our interdependence has become such that the days of making a living either in a purely “good” way or a “bad” way are long gone, if they ever really existed. I consider myself a conscientious guy, but aside from the question of whether I am part of the systematic dumbing down of the world – I have worked on some pretty inane things over the years – I have also helped line the pockets of corporations that exploit laborers, give money to political causes I find morally repugnant, and widen the gap between rich and poor with little apology. Read more…
As the name suggests, Right Action is about what we do. It’s one of Right Speech’s two siblings in the “conduct” portion of the path, but rather than being about words, it’s about deeds. My experience has been that it’s easier to follow Right Action than Right Speech. Somehow the idea of doing something to harm requires a greater depth of malice than saying something to harm. And I think this may be true for most people. Perhaps we just can’t be bothered. Read more…
Right Speech is the step on the Path that always spoke the loudest to me, no pun intended. It seems to be the easiest one for me to forget. Having refined a cynical, biting view of the world starting at age 12 I’ve used words as blunt instruments more often than I care to mention. Read more…
In the second and final step of the so-called “wisdom” part of the Eightfold Path, we get Right Intention. It is less about the intention toward others – we’re not there yet – but more about intention towards the self, and a commitment to improving that self by developing compassion, among other things. Once we understand Right View (see things for what they are, and that includes the difficulties inherent in life), we commit to ourselves to do something about it. There really is great logic in all of this. Read more…
The first Noble Truth of Buddhism tells us that all beings encounter suffering. The first step on the Eightfold Path towards the end of said suffering asks that a practitioner acknowledge that this is true. This is Right View, and, yes, I spent years ignoring this basic idea as it related to my life as an actor. Read more…
The Noble Eightfold Path is the Buddha’s prescribed course of action and intention to rid ourselves of suffering. It is an elegant and poetic set of suggestions for how to approach life, livelihood and happiness, and today I asked whether I was in fact following the path in my life as an actor. So, stay tuned for eight entries, one a day for eight days starting on Monday.
Until then, here’s a primer.
Every stranger gives me two gifts. In no particular order they are: the chance to study a character, and a chance to practice compassion. Most people are odd, and therefore great characters, and most people are unhappy, and in dire need of someone to show them some caring. On occasion, you hit the motherload and get a really, really unhappy wack job. Read more…
About halfway through a scene I’m working on in class my partner has a hefty monologue. During our first presentation of this scene, as the monologue started, my mind drifted off, thinking about unsent emails, whether I’d brought my umbrella, and where I might get a bite to eat later. I had a couple of minutes, so might as well put the time to good use, right? And I was pretty sure my cue line would snap me back into the moment. Read more…
A classroom of adults can be a strange compendium of personalities. Most are of an outgoing nature. There’s no obligation past high school to ever sit in front of a teacher again, so any soul who chooses to spend her Tuesday evenings tra la la’ing through a voice class is probably there of her own volition.
There’s a “B” side to this single, however. These proactive creatures tend to be the neediest. So much so that when the teacher asks, “Does anybody want to say how they feel right now?” arms shoot up to the sky in a way that would make even Stalin blush. And the answers are off-point to an alarming degree. Read more…
