I’m currently reading a book essentially on the power of WHY. I guess it’s appropriate for me to to speak on this matter in the example of acting in order to understand how it;s applicable to our own personal lives.
As an actor, the best way of understanding why a character does and says the things he does, is by going down the rabbit hole of asking the question WHY. Why does my character say this? Because of this. Why does he think that? Because of the thing that happened to him. Why did that happen to him? Because he chose to do this. Why did he choose to do that? Because he feels this way about that. What does he feel that way about that? Because this happened to him. And on and on and on.
Now essentially as an actor we’re trying to get to a point where we can find something that allows us to resonate with that character. To make us understand they operate the way they do in the world around them. It activates us as actors, we feel energized by the character, it informs our choices in scenes, and helps us navigate our relationships to other characters. It helps us understand the characters wants, needs, and desires…..to a point.
There is a tipping point that can occur. A transference from art into logic that will stifle actors. It’s what happens when the thinking brain takes over and ends up impeding the flow of information, creativity, ability to improvise, interact, and play. This typically happens when we’re trying to make a scene “right.” It’s inevitable and happens to all actors. Eventually with time and growth, this is remediated by disregarding the thinking brain and following instead the intuition. Allowing oneself to be completely open to whatever comes up and is experienced.
Now, in relation to us as human beings. Everyone is powered by a WHY whether we know it or not. This is not something that has probably crossed many people’s minds. We’re much more inclined to do the things in our physical reality of which we are circumstance to without a deeper understanding of why we’re doing them. The reason being is we probably prefer not to know the real reason why we do the things we do. If we are to confront these potential reasons, we would need to possibly put ourselves through things that have happened in our past we’d rather keep in dark corners for the sole purpose of self-preservation. It’s a counter-intuitive measure in actuality, because if we were to confront and understand the dark corners of our psyche, we would then be able to move forward with our lives with more clarity, in meaningful and purpose driven ways. In ways that help us understand ourselves and our relationships. There is also the possibility, if not probability, that we don’t do this internal research because we believe the fear of knowing is greater than the fear of not knowing. A projection into the future that by knowing, perhaps we won’t like what we find.
It is my purpose with this piece to help us understand that at the core fundamental reality of who we are, there can be nothing in this realm of existence to fear. It’s not the nature of humanity at the time of conception or birth. However, experiences in this physical realm of reality will impose with brute force the imprints of fear driven outcomes, but these are human experiences out of the control of an innocent child. It is not the fundamental underlying nature of humanity at the time of birth.
To better understand this, we take the lives of two different characters. Tom and Jim.
Jim was raised in a household in the city. He was born to a single mother in a low-income environment. While he had days of play and imagination at a young age, he was more prone to experiencing older figures in his life that committed acts of violence, lacked morality structures to impress upon him a “good” moral compass, saw manipulation being used as a tool of getting what people wanted, lied to get away with things. He has been molded from his experiences to refer to these things in his older adult life. These have led him down a path of relating to life in this way. We can come to an understanding that this character most likely brings these impressed upon experiences with him to inform him of how to act when events happen to him or around him in his adult age.
Tom was raised in the suburbs of the city. He was born to a loving mother and father of a high-income family. His mother stayed home to help raise him and his siblings. His father worked until evening and when he returned to the house, he spent the remaining time of his day informing his children of the world in which they lived, they taught their children lessons of life, introduced them to art, importance of handling money, and took them on vacations to see different parts of the world. As Tom got older, he likewise took with him his childhood experiences to inform him of how to act when events happened to him or around him in his adult age.
This is a very simplified version of two different human experiences, but it’s clear to see that at the time of birth, if we switched Jim for Tom and Tom for Jim in the two different households, they’d just as easily come out with the type of character relevant to the type of household they grew up in.
Now, to my point. It is upon us in our older age to confront and see our past to understand why we are the way we are at our present moment. In this understanding, we can nullify experiences or rather change our relationship to them.
Why do I get out of bed in the morning? Simply answered, to get the day started. Why do I want to get the day started? To be a productive member of society that contributes to it. Why do I want to contribute to society? Because I want to make sure to push humanity forward, to help it grow in a positive, meaningful way. Why do I want humanity to be pushed forward in a positive, meaningful way? Because I want to live in a peaceful world with limited conflict and instead move us into cooperation where more of us can work together to push the boundary of what we previously thought possible in reality. Why? Because it is my belief there is more out there beyond our comprehension with our current understanding of reality. I believe that if we can push the boundaries of what we thought possible, we will open up doors to new opportunities that will help the human race flourish. Therefore, with what I like to do already, I take it upon myself to contribute to humanity by creating stories, lessons, and teachings that have the potential to help people and humanity as a whole search for the truth within their own lives.
It’s a broad stroke of a brush, but it puts us into a corner to be able to sit in. Once sitting, we can relate every action we take and measure it to see if it lines itself up in our corner. Is this active for us as our own characters? Does it energize us? Does it inspire us? Does it intuitively feel right? Hopefully you’ll find that out for yourself in your own Why rabbit hole.