For those of you who have not yet seen Albert Nerenberg’s light-hearted documentary, Stupidity, I recommend it as food for thought. Although parts of the movie are comic, the impact of human stupidity is far from humorous. From people’s inability to define stupidity to our global leaders inability to effectively employ antidotes to global warming and war, we constantly reap the painful and often cataclysmic effects of human stupidity.
Nerenberg is interested in the study of stupidity and its causes so that we may choose another route and pursue wisdom instead. For all the studies on intelligence and wisdom, according to Nerenberg the study of stupidity is quite paltry in comparison. Is stupidity so stupefying that even the best minds find it beyond their capability to study? Or are we so arrogant as to consider human stupidity unworthy of our serious study? Either way, we have proven over the millennia that human stupidity is recurrent and seemingly boundless. It is neither a laughing matter nor is “Stupid!” merely an epithet to hurl at someone with whom we disagree. I’m sure that each one of us can admirably demonstrate stupidity in our own lives. Read the rest of this entry »
One second may be the only the barrier you face between life and death. As I was surfing the web recently, I came across a powerful blog called One Second written by Alison, a woman widowed by a drunk driver. She is the mother of three daughters and she is on a mission to raise safe driving awareness. It only takes one second to make a choice that will lead to safety or recklessness. In her One Second Installations, she engages participants in a way that challenges them to think new ideas and to create momentary experiences that stick with them to encourage safe driving.
Her latest blog post tells about a recent One Second Installation. She and her crew brought a steel hospital table and a body bag to the Surf Club one evening. At the Surf Club she offered people the opportunity to be zipped into the body bag by their friends. Although everyone was interested, nobody volunteered. So she waited. Two hours later after the crowd had some drinks at the bar people started to volunteer. There was nervous laughter as people repeatedly made sure that their friends would unzip them after a second in the bag. An hour later, fortified by even more alcohol, people were having a good time being zipped in the bag and then unzipped. Alison was afraid that the point of the exercise was being lost. This was not supposed to be a fun event. Rather it was supposed to be a wake up call about 1) what it feels like to be in a body bag 2) trusting one’s friends 3) consciously making choices. Read the rest of this entry »
Whenever I think of July 4th, I think of freedom. When I got up this morning I read a bit from Mary Pipher’s excellent new book, “Seeking Peace: Chronicles of the Worst Buddhist in the World”. I was powerfully moved by this sentence: “Religions are metaphorical systems that give us bigger containers in which to hold our lives.” Although I meditate and have read many books on Buddhism, I’m not officially a Buddhist. However, Buddhism has allowed me to explore the idea and the experience of freedom in a way that I hadn’t previously encountered.
True freedom for me is freedom from my obsessive self-castigating thoughts. My mind produces thousands of these thoughts each day. Mindfulness is the larger container that allows me to notice them and not become one with any single one of them. I’m not often successful in remaining unattached to individual thoughts. They are so inviting, with their magnetic pull toward a seemingly stable identity of me as an insufficient, narcissistic and selfish person. In those moments of ego identification with those thoughts I’m steadfastly not cognizant of any of my altruistic and generous thoughts or actions. I hate myself for not living up to my own ideals and even worse for hurting others by my own insistence on any thought or action that could relate to my own well being. Read the rest of this entry »
I never met Augusto Boal in person but I have read all of his books. I am profoundly  by his death. Selfishly, I am grieving my lost opportunity. Now I will never have the chance to personally study with him. His writing has been an important influence on the creation of The Opportunity Game. He was a master at eliciting and acting on the opportunity of every situation. Altruistically, I am saddened that the world no longer has his genius to inform us of what is possible.
Whenever any star permanently exits the stage of life, I feel a great loss. However, if I am truly honest, I also feel angry. Their absence leaves a hole that demands to be filled. This hole always reminds me that I can no longer lean back and let another do the work while I laze around in the background.
I could stop my exploration of my feelings here at anger. Certainly, most people would validate my awareness of my anger and compliment me on being so forthright. However, my anger is covering up something much more powerful. It is my excitement. I’m excited and I am fully alive when I act.
I don’t need a professional stage nor a paid audience to act. Acting is about awareness. It is about taking the stage with intention, being fully in my character and then acting in concert with the other players in the scene. Boal taught me that the world IS my stage and my audience is always awaiting and welcoming my appearance.
Boal lived his life with a fierce commitment to freedom, dignity and expression. He believed in the exquisite knowledge and power of people to act and direct their own lives toward the good. He founded The Theatre of the Oppressed in Brazil in 1971. His work traveled rapidly around the world. In The Theatre of the Oppressed people play and learn together. It is a game of dialog. To quote Boal, “We believe in Peace, not Passivity!”
Boal’s death is my cue to enter. He always exhorted people to “come closer”. I am now coming closer to you and thus to me. Act in Peace, Augusto! Bravo!
I have been thinking a lot about greed these days. In a culture that prizes things over people, it is not surprising that greed is running rampant. However, like Buddhism’s Hungry Ghosts who are filled with unquenchable hunger and whose tiny necks are too small to let any nourishment into their huge stomachs, our greed precludes satiation. Like the junk food we mindlessly eat all day, the food that arrives in our bellies leaves us malnourished and craving more.
Greed is seductive, beckoning you into “the safe”, it then locks the door leaving you with no strategy or nor way to exit without help from someone else. The person whom greed hurts the most is you (or me when I am in its thrall). It separates us from others and diverts us from our own desire for true happiness. Read the rest of this entry »
For those of you who have not yet seen Albert Nerenberg’s light-hearted documentary, Stupidity, I recommend it as food for thought. Although parts of the movie are comic, the impact of human stupidity is far from humorous. From people’s inability to define stupidity to our global leaders inability to effectively employ antidotes to global warming and war, we constantly reap the painful and often cataclysmic effects of human stupidity.![[del.icio.us]](http://theopportunitygame.com/blog/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/delicious.png)
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