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!
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.![[del.icio.us]](http://theopportunitygame.com/blog/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/delicious.png)
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