Edoardo Ballerini

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.

The on-screen/off-screen question I alluded to in the piece on Right Speech is also nearly identical.  Actions on screen and stage must have a purpose other than to harm, and if a piece has any merit, it will.  I have never done snuff films or pornography, both of which have scant claims to anything remotely ethical.  The worst I’ve been a part of are things that are lowbrow and poorly done, but their intention, misguided as it may have been, was to entertain, not willfully debase.

Right Action is often described in what is not to be done: don’t steal, don’t defraud, don’t kill, and so on.  Positively formulated, I suppose, it’s more like do good, lend a hand, give gifts, make people laugh.  And I’ve tried to do that in my life, and in my career.  I help others where I can, talk to students, mentor younger actors, and offer up my rollercoaster ride in the form of these musings so that somebody might hear something useful.

If there’s a recurring theme in this inquiry, though, it’s that my life and my work are one.  I am blessed to make my living in the arena of my choosing and thereby embrace my work as myself, but even if this wasn’t the case, it is ludicrous to think that how a person spends half of his or her waking life is something other than his or her life.  To believe that would require a high level of continual unconsciousness throughout the day.

But the point is to become conscious.  I am what I do, every day, in every moment, large and small.  And my best actions should reflect my beliefs, every day, in every moment, large and small.

Tomorrow, it’s Right Livelihood, an area that has always given me fits.