How art imitates life and vice versa.
Many of us ‘have a go’ at acting and soon realise that the juicy parts go to those with the most clout. I have no problem with that reality. Acting is a hard world. The director will state that ‘there are no small parts - only small actors’ which neatly motivates actors to strive or just give up.
My limited acting career started with a role as a derelict which, by method acting, I found within myself - not far below the surface - and garnered my only prize within that field.
I played a few roles in which I didn’t understand the play let alone my role but the one that stays in my mind was within ‘The life of Galileo.’ where I had a few small roles, one of which was as a monk who berates Galileo, and who ‘needs must’ splutter with indignation at the blasphemous reality which Galileo puts forth regarding the position of the planets in respect to the sun and which contradicted the established view of the Church.
At that time in history, the earth was deemed to be the centre of the universe and the Bible reinforced that view.
My role - as a bigoted, mainstream monk - was to take Galileo to task over his heresy. I found the bigot within me. I was quite good at it and to be ‘quite good and believable’ one needs to be in the moment.
The one time in which I ‘crashed and burnt’ happened because I needed to come down some stairs while Galileo was seated, with his back to the audience. As I started to ‘splutter in my indignation’, the actor playing Galileo either winked or smiled at me and completely threw me off balance to the extent that my lines got confused.
I don’t think many in the audience noticed but, of course, Galileo was hugely amused.
I played the son of a sea God in a radio play and was pretty woeful ..... it’s not easy to find the perspective from which one would speak in a role such as that.
Anyway - this is all to link into the idea of reincarnation and how aspects of this life were, perhaps seeded in previous lives.
Satyananda, if I recall correctly, suggested that Karma - even what we call instant karma is not something that can be determined... it’s a futile exercise to try.
I work with intellectually disabled people and have often wondered about the karmic aspect of disability. I haven’t come to any conclusion but the thought remains that, perhaps, some great souls choose reincarnation within disability as a way in which compassion can be drawn out of those who care for them.
It turns that whole idea of ‘you deserve it’ on its head.
The bloke for whom I’m a ‘key worker’ is a stoic. With a withered arm and a ‘gamy’ leg, he manages to live a cheerful, uncomplaining and full life yet most wouldn’t understand his speech but still warm to him regardless.
I see this played out when I take him to hydrotherapy sessions which are full of men and women who’ve seen better days. They warm to him and his enthusiasm before they warm to each other.
I also work with an autistic bloke for whom the mantra is ... ‘if one is good, two is better and three is better still.’ He applies this to just about every aspect of life and thus I need keys and locks to restrict his actions - particularly when it comes to access to the fridge - because his actions are detrimental to himself and to those around him.
I’m left with the slightly uncomfortable knowledge that, on the surface at least, I represent the ‘powers that be.’
‘Order out of chaos’ is often the clarion call when I arrive at work, particularly if the previous worker is a bit lacking in the skills needed for the job.
I get tired, I get intense and need to remind myself that there are those who ‘look after me’ in some spiritual sense and who possible feel the same way.
Our blokes have souls. To have a soul or not can’t be determined by I.Q.
I don’t know whether the ‘powers that be’ in terms of this world also have souls..... it’s a bit of a slippery slope once we start deciding who is soul-less. I’d prefer to believe that all sentient creatures have souls - albeit black and shrivelled - which, in the case of the earthly ‘powers that be’ is ultimately their choice.