While You Wait

I always seem to be waiting for some future event but what I am doing now, as  I wait, makes all the difference.  In the grand scheme of things, we are all waiting to die; even if that thought is morose, it is true.  The one life event that we cannot escape is the death of this living organism we call our body.  And what we do while we are waiting for that to happen is what makes life interesting.

I’ve been to Medicaid facilities that provide minimal space and care to those who cannot afford anything better.  These places are the last stop on the way out for a lot of people.  It seems that once ensconced in one there is no getting out.  One has to be destitute to get in, so how can one get out.  Many of these people are quite literally sitting around waiting to die.  They gaze disinterestedly at a TV screen, or simply sit there and look at whatever passes into their field of view.  They aren’t doing much of anything more than waiting—to die.

This can be thought of as an extreme but is it?  How many others are sitting around in their houses, apartments, trailers, or rooms and pass the time of day in a distracted way watching whatever comes into view, mostly daytime television programs.  But these and others, me included, spend a lot of their time distracted from their lifetime aim.

If one were to answer the question, “What are you doing?” by saying, “I am working on aim,” he/she would know that they are participating in life and living and progressing towards achievement of that aim.  To be able to honestly state this as the answer to the question is far from an easy thing to do.  It requires that one know what his/her aim is and then that he/she be able to select activities that are consistent with achieving it.

One of the features of a large organization is the departmentalization of activities that allow a worker to do that specific thing that fulfills his role.  All resources are provided for him and it is up to him to get the required results that fulfill his purpose.  Organizations evolve, what was a required role ten years ago may no longer be appropo to the current requirements.  But specialization (departmentalization) continues to be the way large organizations operate to achieve whatever results they require.

It can be argued that the organizational model reflect the way beings are structured.  IOW, we are departmentalized in order to achieve aim.  There are many activities that the body performs as it lives that are specialized; even some of these are further subdivided into even more specialized activities.

Think of digestion for example; a large quantity of material is ingested during the course of a day-week-month-year-lifetime, all of it is masticated, mixed with saliva, swallowed, passed into the stomach, dissolved, passed into the intestines, metabolized into useful compounds on a molecular level, made available to where it is needed, traded for used, damaged, or useless molecules, which are then carried away.  I don’t even know what I’m writing about except that it is a huge, highly specialized activity that goes on constantly throughout the life of the body and one that does not require the concern of the “active” part of the mind, except to select what to ingest.  This same thing is true for other bodily activities, all with the express purpose of allowing the being to work on s.t. else; ideally to work on aim. 

The nature of the organization of the brain-body goes beyond the support of the physical functions.  The many personae that are part of the being also have desires and aims that may or may not be consistent with other personae in the being.

A gross example is those personae in the sexual center that have the ultimate aim of procreating and reproducing the species.  There are times that needs of these personae become so urgent that other, more important needs of the being are put aside.  This phenomenon occurs not only in the context of the sexual center but also among the other centers as well.

There is always the danger that an activity to satisfy appetites, i.e. physical gratification, takes precedence over those that tend to achieve lifetime aim.  It takes a strong true “I” to deal with these.  It is only the strength of the desire of the true “I” of the being to achieve the aim of the lifetime that rescues the being from perdition.  

Other aims of personae that comprise the being are there for the doing.  It can only be hoped that having done them will advance the being towards his aim of this lifetime.

There are also many subordinate aims that can be selected for work.  My endeavors, for example, each has an aim, a reason for being pursued and writing this blog is one example; it is not necessarily my ultimate aim but certainly an aim worth pursuing.  Working on these other aims can result in strengthening the ability of the being to achieve lifetime aim.  Work on lifetime aim can be accomplished in the background while working on subordinate aims is carried out by those personae in the driver's seat.  

"Sunday, Sweet Sunday..."

Seldom do programs, plays, or movies resonate with me to such an extent that time is spent dwelling on them but once in a while one seeps through.  This is the case with a recently viewed episode of the Andy Griffith show from 1962, reinforced by comments made by Deanna O’Daniel in her memoirs of life growing up in Louisville and environs.  That which comes to mind is the concept of a day of rest, when all things are closed and people do nothing except relax from the weekly schedule.

One can say that I am only on that schedule that I impose upon myself but lately I am seeing more of my time being allocated to obligations of one kind or another.  For example, starting last week I joined the cast of a play that rehearses on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, the Whodunnit rehearsals will overlap with this and go on until performances in November and December, Stage Movement classes are on Tuesdays and Thursdays,  my pool teams compete on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Saturdays are for riding, golf on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, deliver meals on every third Thursday, Rotary Club meetings on Tuesday mornings,  and spend time as necessary as Community Services chairperson.  In addition to these there is time that must be spent learning lines and songs for current productions and other chores.  And just now I agreed to work in the lobby for the current Whodunnit production.  Maybe this is why the concept of a day of rest is rising to the surface. 

The day of rest is meant to be a time that the brain is allowed to regroup and restore some sense of calm to the being and it requires a certain discipline of its own to accomplish.  The description provided by Deanna O’Daniel, the AGS, and my memory of Sundays at home from 1940 to 1960 is consistent. 

One goes to church in the morning after a breakfast of coffee cake and coffee, comes home to read the Sunday paper, eats a large noon meal together at the table, then cleans up the mess, and simply sits around the rest of the day.  Usually mom would lie down across the bed, pop would lie on the sofa in the living room, Barbara and I listened to Sam Spade, The Shadow, and Gangbusters detective stories on the radio from time to time later on Sunday afternoon, otherwise we did nothing in particular.  the evening  supper, was usually very simple, hot dogs, sausages, or lunch meat, potato salad or maybe pork and beans, and tomatoes.  We rarely had company.  Then after supper or even during, we’d listen to the radio for the Jack Benny Show.  I think it came on at 6pm central time there in Saint Louis.  This was the routine except for the many Sundays we went to Troy but even there the routine was very similar.

There is biblical reference to a day of rest and it has been adopted by religions throughout the centuries.  The concept may have been around for a lot longer than recorded history, we don’t know.  It is certainly commonsensical to take a day of rest and seven days is a good enough interval in between.  It almost makes me wonder if there isn’t some sort of psychological reason for it.

We sleep several hours every day and this was brought about by the light-dark cycle of the day but even this sleep phenomenon is deeper than simply being in the dark and waiting for daylight.  All day long the brain is besieged by situations that have to be handled and it winds up a little jumbled up after a while.  “So everyday along about evening, when the sunlight’s beginning to fail…” we are overcome, eventually, by fatigue that is both mental and perhaps physical. 

Rest and even sleep is necessary for the maintenance work required on the body and the brain.  I’ve dealt with sleep in previous writing and won’t go into it here.  Suffice it to say that not all of the brain-body goes dormant during first state; there are many facets of it that work in the background to rejuvenate the being.

It stands to reason that there may be situations that transcend the daily wake-sleep cycle and these are reconciled by the day of rest.  It is important to  follow this idea by being involved in some activity that is completely abnormal, has little or no stress involved with it, and resist the temptation to get involved with activities that are taken up during rest of the week.

The timing of once a week is interesting.  Did we evolve into it after we decided to measure time by seven-day periods or did we start using weeks after it was innately discovered that the brain-body needed a day of rest in addition to several hours of sleep every day?  There is a lot of conjecture about how the seven-day week was adopted; the upshot is that it fits nicely in almost all aspects of our understanding of life and living.  Ancients had five visible planets plus the sun and the moon, the number seven is special in almost all mythology, and it fits our personal needs if we let it.

The concept of a day of rest, for me now at this time of my life, is an emphasis of the other side of that coin.  One day of rest and six days of activities, working on Aim.  It would be too easy to allow myself to have several days of rest during the week and not work on Aim.

The conclusion to which I am coming is that a day of rest is as necessary as is a night of sleep but only if one’s days are taken up with obligations which impose some form or other of stress.  It should be noted here that stress build-up is a personal thing and not to be judged by anyone else.  Some people are able to cope with incredible situations and keep a perspective while others get overwhelmed by seemingly minor issues.  Only the bearer of stress can know the extent of concern that exists.  A day of rest allows the mind to reset itself.  A day of rest opens six to activity.

The Secret

Everybody wants to know the secret; it is the answer to our prayers, the way to get the skill, riches, awards, medals, and stardom that we crave; The Secret is also the title of a DVD that is devoted to getting what you want.  I watched it and came away with mixed feelings.

The prescription is not new to me, it is s.t. to which I was exposed in my youth when my dad gave me the seven little red books and it has been repeated often in my experience with reading and listening to various motivational people.  Yet listening to it again was a sort of reaffirmation of the phenomenon.

A disturbing aspect of watching the movie is coming away with the feeling that there is something lacking in me and I want to explore that here.  Nothing could be farther from reality and yet this is a common reaction that I have whenever I hear or listen to someone who has made it big.  What’s wrong with me that I’m not equally successful?  It seems that I have a modicum of success when others have an abundance of it.   This is a defect in my thinking. 

The reminder in the movie to “count your blessings” is an aspect of the whole philosophy of which I could do a lot more.  I tend to focus on the half empty instead of the half full; tend to look as what has to be done instead of what has been accomplished, tend to get discouraged when I realize that I’m not there yet; tend to jump off the train before it reaches its destination.  I could recount actions that I’ve taken in my lifetime that would be examples of each of the above and there are more than one of each.

All of these are pitfalls to the success mentality.  So I’m making a resolution that from this time now and on I will practice the opposite of all of the above.  I’ll be looking for the good, the success, the accomplishment, the small improvement in performance that is made—and there is always a positive aspect to be observed.

Then there is the lack of associations that I continue to decry; another change that has to be made in my thinking.  When I reflect on my associations I can see that I have sufficient to get the help, advice, assistance, and company to do whatever.  For every one of my endeavors for which an association is appropriate, there are some.   The focus of my thinking has to be on the appreciation of those associations and encourage them.

Then there’s the jealousy factor whenever I am involved in s.t.  I am putting it down here because it has been a factor in the past.  I found myself being sensitive to others taking credit for my efforts; horning in on my territory, using association with me to feather their nest at, what I saw as, my expense.

This comes from the desire for recognition and it is totally bogus.  If I am doing s.t for recognition, it is being done for the wrong reason.  I have recognized this and now tend to do things to make a good “recital” and not bragging rights.  And the good recital is for my benefit and not that of others except that they not feel uncomfortable watching or listening.

The lesson of recognition came home during the past few months.  I was recognized by the French government with the Order of Merit and by my Rotary Club as Rotarian of the Year.  Neither of these was the result of a conscious effort on my part except to work hard at the jobs I had.

One could delve into past situations and performance to hammer home the ideas set out above but that would be counterproductive at the very best.  I am here, I want to be there.  Recognizing the changes in my thinking and making them will certainly help me get there.

Repeating them here for my own benefit:

1) Know specifically what I want including a willingness to work for it

2) Concentrate on the good things that I already have

3) See the positive aspect of any and all that I do

4) Appreciate and be sensitive to the associations that I have

5) Work for the greater good, not for recognition

There was another aspect that was brought out by the movie; it is emotional involvement in the pursuit of aim.  It is reported here but only to recognize it as part of the picture.  The emotional involvement is the enjoyment of the prospect of working on aim with the added thought that when objective aim is consistent with the development aim of Master there is a fundamental resonance that enables one to experience joy.

Who Will Do for Me

A thought haunts me and I’m not sure how it’s going to pan out when it gets into writing because a conclusion hasn’t been reached about it, just a thought.  So the writing will be a way of thinking about it and, who knows, some conclusion may be reached after a while at this keyboard.

I’ve written about waiting and this is a related thought, or topic; well it has to be a thought because it doesn’t have a name yet so it can’t quite be a topic, it relates to having nil to do.  When all that has been listed is done what’s next?  But it is an even broader sense of this about which I want to write.

Suppose one was to have enough resources at his disposal to hire someone to do all the mundane work that he normally does, all of the little things that take up his time and thought; what would he do with the time that was now available? 

Starting with getting up in the morning one would have to take care of grooming and dressing himself but where would it go from there?  It could be that the meals were prepared by s.o. else and ready to eat; the log would have to be written personally, as would reading the current book, the bit of French reading, and chiro stretches but once those few chores were out of the way?

If one were to arise at a reasonably early hour, say seven o’clock, the minimal chores would be complete within forty-five minutes or so.  That would mean that from eight o’clock until eleven p.m. there would be no prescribed chores to be done. 

There would be no yard work, landscaping, or plant watering, contracted out; no meals, cooked by others; no bills or correspondence, administered by others except for immediate matters that required response; no leather cleaning, shoe shining, small repairs, car maintenance, shopping, laundry, dry cleaning, driving, dishes, or housework, done by others; don’t have to make the bed, hang up the towels, or clean up the dishes.

The big question is what would personally be done?  The answer lies in the endeavors.  Right now they are a list of twenty items and we need to look at them to see the survivors and those to be hired out.  The actions I take to pursue my endeavors are: audition, utilize (assets), associate, serve (community), enjoy (cooking), use (digital technology), manage (personal finances), exercise, study (French), play (golf), think (life and living), develop (maintain brain-body), compete (pool), ride (horses), sketch, socialize, act, travel, write, and work (maintain the house and yard.)

Of these I could hire out utilize digital technology, manage personal finances, and work to maintain the house.  All the others are things that I want to do for personal achievement and to enjoy my time during the day.  The digital technology aspect could be hired out so I would specify what I wanted installed and utilized and have someone else make sure that it was done and that I am trained.

How much of my time and psychic energy would be freed by such an arrangement?  Since each of these is that to which physical and psychic energy is being applied, we can think of it as a bubble of present activity.  This bubble expands and contracts with desired results.  When something has to be done, the bubble inflates; when it is completed it deflates, or even pops.  It is when it hangs around not finished that it begins to bother me.

In almost every instance of my life this is the scenario; a goal or activity is selected and then work goes on to accomplish same.  As in the case of the telephone service modification, it is hanging around a long time unfinished due to unforeseen circumstances.  Unfinished, misbegotten, procrastinated, or otherwise incomplete activities cause me considerable angst.

Sometimes less important endeavors, and by this I mean less directly related to the achievement of my major aim(s), are used as a distraction from spending time and energy on the majors.  The majors being acting and writing, and then there are others that get neglected out of laziness or even reluctance; these are: associating, utilizing assets (improving net worth), French, and social.

In fact, there wouldn’t be a lot of time made available if I was to hire out those that could be done by others.  By the time I managed someone to do this it would be easier and more time efficient for me to do it myself.  The only requirements for me are (1) the ability to see what needs doing, (2) the discipline necessary to do it, and (3)stop when no further progress can be made for additional effort.

The plotting and scheming that I do each week keep me going but it could be that it allows me to think that I’m making progress when actually there is much more to be made if I applied myself to it more diligently.  The question from Alan Aiken in his book How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life has to be asked over and over again: “What is the best use I can make of my time, right now?”

The answer has to be objective rather than expedient.  This is the second pitfall into which I fall because I will often pick s.t. that is fun, pleasant, easy, or distracting instead of s.t. that moves me towards achievement of aim.  Along with this is the discounting of laziness and reluctance.  All too often s.t. doesn’t happen because of one or the other of these and then I become aware of the lost opportunity later and get filled with regret and often become critical of me.

One gage of achievement is how much time one spends waiting.  The optimum situation is to have enough of a grasp of what needs doing to achieve aim that one can fill every waking moment with doing it.  

To sum up this post, if you need a helping hand, look at the end of your arm.

The Womb

In a book or movie a seemingly insignificant word or phrase can become the representation of the whole text.  In The Treasure of the Sierra Madre the bandito says, “Badges, we don’t need no stinkin’ badges.” The movie is more than an hour in length and almost anyone familiar with it remembers this line.  In Gone with the Wind Rhett Butler says, “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn” and everyone remembers it.  Or hear a bell tinkle at Christmas and someone will say, “An angel just got his wings” from It’s a Wonderful Life.

My dailies are comprised of thirty-eight assertions varying in length from a few words to more than twenty.  There is one, down near the end that is innocuous but probably the most significant in a philosophical sense.   There are others that are more didactic, more prescriptive, more objective, more cautionary, more commanding, more prophetic but none more philosophical, "Being the womb of Essence, I am humble."  

There’s a reason for this and it’s because none of the others recognize the dichotomy that exists between Master and Brain-body.  Considering that there is an entity that exists in the body but is not of the body is difficult and this is what this particular daily brings to mind when it is said.

There is one time when this bipartition can be experienced, albeit briefly, and that is just before the Brain-body goes to sleep, i.e. first state.  At this point, if one is careful and aware, you can get a glimpse of that “other” part, Master.  He is mute and in his own way moves the being toward permanence.  The only time he can be experienced is at this juncture of crossing into first state, or what we commonly refer to as sleep.  Aside: Sleep has been explored in a previous entry.

 It is important for me to recognize that all of my thoughts are products of the brain, all of my sensations and reactions to them are primarily of the body.  All of my memories, imagining, reasoning, and decision making are of the brain.  The only time I can even approach experiencing the other component of my being is when all is completely still; this occurs most frequently when I am about to slip into first state.  And it is difficult to differentiate between imagined and “real” experience in this regard.

At no time does/has Master said anything yet he makes his presence felt all throughout the day/ lifetime comprised of all the days that the brain-body is alive.   He has a purpose, an agenda, but “I” am not privy to it; I know when I am acting in a way that does not agree with it because things don’t go well.

There have been times that I felt punished for behaving this way or that and the behaviors causing the problem were not necessarily what would normally be considered “bad” behaviors.  I know when I am acting in accordance with his agenda because all goes swimmingly; and this is not always what would be considered “good” behavior.

From my limited vantage point I would conclude that Master is developing and this development is facilitated by experiences of the brain-body at his disposal.   Yet there are other forces felt by the brain-body, urges, appetites, emotional responses to experiences especially those involving others, issues about the safety and security of the brain-body, issues about procreation, issues of maintenance, and issues of getting along in society.

All of these extraneous needs have to be addressed by the brain-body but fundamentally Master has needs to be met in order for him to reach permanency.  Yet, it would seem that there is a realization that if for some reason his needs aren’t met it’s okay because he has the choice of continuing his quest in a subsequent existence.

It may be vanity but my thinking is that the Master in me is enjoying development along whatever lines he desires and has been for some years now.  There is a certain physical equilibrium and mental peace that is enjoyed day in and day out which can only come from conforming to his desires.  There have been other periods in this lifetime where things were out of kilter with what were probably his desires and there were physical and psychic problems associated with those periods of time which went away when the behaviors changed.

It is difficult to see a reflection of this visage without identifying with it; even more difficult to see a reflection and realize that this is one aspect of my being, and an important one but not the only one.  Our eyes are positioned such that we cannot see ourselves is a clue to the situation that we are in.  It wasn’t until the camera that we were able to see a true image and it won’t be until holographic technology is perfected that we will see a true three dimensional image of ourselves.

If all of this is my imagination, then I’ll die and that will be the end of it but at the very least I will have had an interesting time of it on the way as I stay open to other possibilities.  In the meantime I will continue think about it and continue to seek Master, perhaps meet him.  Not out of the question because I don’t know.

There are many religions in the world and some espouse similar thoughts to these; my inherent distrust of organized religion, and those who think they understand it and consequently preach it, precludes me from glomming on to any of them.  Yet there are some interesting albeit obscure references to that of which I am writing.  One has to be sensitive to these ideas and then see how they creep out of the woodwork when allowed to do so.

But most important, one must think about it and continue to do so without becoming dogmatic.  Where am I?  I am here.  I want to go there.  Where is there?

Back to the Course

The golf course is an unforgiving place.  The walk today was an exceptional experience for me: four pars, 3 bogeys, and 2 doubles for a nine-hole total of 43.  Today I joined up with two other fellows on number four after sinking a long putt on number three for a par.  One of them, a few holes later, said that I seemed to be an expert on getting up and down because I was hitting my irons so well from the fairway.  I said, “Thank you.”

As I played, and walked, I was taken up with thoughts about my moving center, my intellectual center, and the interplay between them.  It was an interesting afternoon.  I’ll get into more of that later but now I want to write a little bit about the eyes.

Often we talk about vision in a allegorical sense; what is your vision? How do you see it? What is the vision of the company? All of these and other references to vision impart a much different meaning to it than seeing with the eyes.

Probably because the eyes are such a major sense when compared to the other four senses, it is only natural to impart to them more importance, to give them a more prominent place in our expression of thoughts.  A diagram of the senses with each of the sensors given a proportional size to its importance doesn’t even show the eyes because they would be disproportionately large in comparison.

Yet when one strips away the myth, the allegory, and the literary references, the eyes are one of the five senses with which we experience the present in which we are involved – now, and only now.  We can’t experience the past or the future with our senses; for that we use our memory and imagination.  These two are often melded into one another as imagination affects memory when we try to remember, and memory influences imagination as we project into the future.

The eyes are a tool of the brain-body and they occupy a unique position on/in it.  They are placed on the front of the head, only about three inches apart, and yet they are able to accurately gauge distances and relative movement of objects anywhere from a few inches to several miles away.  Not only that but they can do this in bright sunlight and in starlight.  But they cannot see the face in which they are set without the aid of a mirror, which reverses left and right unless compound mirrors are used, or by recording, photographic or digital images; still or moving.

Today I became aware that I was able to see all around, up and down, back and forth and almost all of my body, except my face.  The question came to mind, “Is this a message, is there meaning to this?”

The design would indicate that it is not important to see the features of one’s face.  Vanity instills in us a desire to see same, but apparently it is not/ was not deemed important enough to make allowances for doing so without the aid of special equipment.

Yet everyone else around us can see our face.  And because their vision is so acute, honed by thousands of years of evolution and fine tuned by a lifetime of experience, they are able to see in our face the emotion that is transiting our brain at that instant.  Only the skilled actor can control of the countenance and either hide or display a particular emotion; and even then they are wont to give it away.

In playing golf, the eyes are a tool used by the personae of primarily the moving center to determine what motion and to what degree that motion has to be delivered.  They are used by personae of the intellectual center to analyze the situation ahead of time to set it up properly and afterwards to provide feedback on results.  The disciplined golfer does not allow other personae to interrupt this process.

It was my work for today, for the most part, there were struggles among personae; there were physical constraints due to age and ability, there were distractions but, by and large, they were kept to a minimum and the result was a score of 43.

It was an experiment that was successful.  It was premeditated and prescribed; it was called to mind every time the ball was addressed to be hit by whatever club including the putter.  The results speak for themselves and it is worth another attempt.

There is memory associated with each of the major centers of the brain-body; intellectual recalls facts and formulae, emotional recalls situational feelings, social recalls how best to deal with different individuals, instinctive recalls what to do in a threatening situation, sexual recalls how to act/react for procreation, and the moving center recalls what to do to produce a specific movement.

This moving memory, often called muscle memory, is what allows us to ride a bike after not doing it for forty years,  to pick up right where we left off the last time we danced, rode, swam, skated, skied, hiked, ran,-- you name it.

On the other hand, developing moving memory is time consuming and often frustrating.  Recall how often you were unsuccessful in executing a desired moving activity until the technique was finally mastered.

This moving memory exists in many unsuspected forms.  Stair climbing—try a set of stairs that doesn’t have an eight-inch riser; sitting—sit down on a bench that is less than the normal height; yet one can unerringly put his hand on the soap in the soap dish in the shower with his eyes closed, face lathered with shampoo, and water running all over him.

The goal is to allow this moving memory to take over in making a move after realizing that the appropriate work has been done to allow it.  When putting, the last thing I think is, “There’s the hole, there’s the ball; put the ball in the hole,” then I quiet all but my moving golf persona for the putt.  The result is often a rattling in the cup or a tap-in.

Prose, Poetry, and Script

Here we are in the middle of June, the first 100 blog posts have been published in three volumes entitled “Notes on Life and Living” and the three readers have given them rave reviews.  (They are available for $20 each if anyone is interested/ that amount just does cover the cost so I’m not ripping anyone off.)  Now I have prepared 18 philosophical poems about the same subject, As I Live My Life, and will print a limited number of them in a booklet.

Poems in this form are enjoyable to write; they are of a structure that I invented for conveying more or less esoteric thoughts.  The general form is two sets of two lines each of assertion, four lines of exposition, two more sets of two lines each of expansion, four lines of erudition, two lines of advice, and a one line conclusion.  It works for me and I’m the poet.

The objective of writing scripts for plays and movies hasn’t been abandoned; I keep talking about it but haven’t put pen to paper, finger to keypad yet.  The one play I wrote was pretty good, it didn’t go any further than an edited first draft so no one has taken it apart for me to rewrite.  I did it in a playwriting class and defended it fairly well; the professor thought I showed promise.

It seems to me that script writing almost has to be a collaborative effort, at least at first.  This assertion is borne out by famous play writes and the multiple credits on screenplays that I see in movies.  That a single individual can write a script from start to finish without collaboration would mean that the writer is a genius or has had the benefit of having done it with others many times before and knows what works and what doesn’t.

One of my Whodunnit buddies has written three scripts to date and I was lucky enough to perform in one of them.  They held water for the genre and audiences like them.  The Whodunnit process requires collaboration; an author can write what he/she thinks will work and then it is reviewed by objective third parties, has a dramatic reading, and finally goes into rehearsal.  Problems can be discovered anywhere along the way and rewriting is required time and again.

The ideal of a writer in his garret turning out finished plays is just that, no relation to reality.  In truth, the script is hammered over and over again until it takes the shape that will stand performance.  I doubt that the Whodunnit process is unique.

When talking to the co-author/director of my most recent movie appearance, he allowed that the script we used was the back story to the original script idea, which was found to be too ephemeral  for performance.  Much work went into the original concept such that when the back story became the script, it was finished in short order but not, however, without getting a paid professional to review it before production started.

This script, for a feature length movie, was approximately 80 pages and there were a lot of stage directions included.  Having observed this one closely because I was in it, I have to assume that it is fairly close to the “real deal.”  With more experienced actors, directors, and cinematographers, I can understand shorter scripts.  In this case the writers wanted the story told a certain way and, since one was also directing, that’s the way it was made.

The same was true of Atomic Bombers, a play I was in earlier this year.  The director was the author about 25 years earlier and he admitted that the way he directed it was a slightly different take on the story from the perspective of today’s post 9/11 world.  I’m sure the nuances were subtle because the script was the same original script used for the first production back then.

I am registered for a class in script analysis that should help me in this quest for putting my thoughts on stage.  The fact that I’m not a crusader, idealist, or activist may work against me but I am a philosopher and as long as I keep to my field of life and living and present my characters as being involved in that, I just may be able to pull this off.  The format could be Whodunnit, could be classical, could be comedy, and could be soap opera; they all will work because they all reflect life and living.

There is such a condensation of expression via words from prose to poetry, and such an expansion of expression when the ideas are put into play because the audience becomes emotionally involved without a written page.  This becomes my reason for doing it.  I’ve seen the economy of words that poetry allows, I’ve seen the complete expression that prose allows, and I’ve seen the way actors using the same script can interpret it differently but still faithfully.

The question that is begged is why?  Why would a reader bother to read others’ thoughts?  Why would an audience sit through 90 minutes of a whole lot of others’ ideas on a how a situation could be portrayed?  The answer is for entertainment, for the escape of not having to come up with the idea but rather have the idea presented to them to be enjoyed, accepted, or rejected.

Each reader or audience member has a different angle from which he/she is experiencing the work.  Some are on the top level of what is said and done; others are concerned with how it is said and/or done; and still others are commenting on the technique that the production company, in all the aspects of it, used to create the desired effect, and there are still other aspects of a production upon which people concentrate.  When writing prose, poetry, or script one cannot take all these things into account.  A good author brings a story, which allows each to enjoy along his own line of analysis and thus be entertained.