When we think of 'actors', we often think of celebrities.
It's natural then that when we think of 'acting,' 'spiritual' is the last word to come to mind.
After all, isn't acting just about pretending to be someone else? Getting the right expression for the camera or the right gesture for the stage? What can it possibly have to do with being spiritual?
As an actor myself, if these are the opinions you hold, I will not hesitate to tell you-you're wrong.
But first, what is spirituality?
Broadly, I'd define spirituality as the practice of allowing the acknowledgment that there is some higher energy or force than oneself to influence one's understanding and perception of the world in order to strive for continual self-improvement. You could be religious and spiritual but you need not be the former to be the latter.
Here are 5 reasons why acting is a spiritual craft:
1. Actors Must Have Empathy
An actor can be tasked to portray any character at all. Often the characters we may be asked to portray may do things we morally disagree with. If we are to approach such a character from the place of our own ego, we may instantly judge it and hate it.
The only way to start to believably play such a character is to cast our own personal opinions and judgments aside. It is to truly understand and step into the shoes of the character: to empathize with them.
This requires a recognition that in the eyes of the Universe, there is no judgment. Everyone has personal reasons for doing what they do. It is our job as Actors to find what it is for our characters to be driven to the extremities of their actions.
2. Actors Must Continually Make Sense of Life
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After empathizing with a character, an Actor must justify each and every one of the character's actions. The actor must observe the motivations of his characters. These motivations, or objectives, are not always easy to find, let alone understand.
To understand deeply the objective 'I want to be loved', for example, an actor must observe life around him, whether his own or those of his loved ones, to figure out what it is that drives humans to crave love.
What does it truly mean to want to be loved? Does it mean to be appreciated? To be cared for? Or simply to be romantically idolized?
There are multiple layers to every objective of every character and to understand the nuances of each, Actors must learn to observe every passing moment of life deeply and must learn what the logic behind emotions is.
This cannot be done with a mind that claims to know everything. Actors must be willing to surrender to the vastness of the Universe in order to be receptive enough to learn from his or her humble observations of life.
3. Actors Must Embrace Self - Introspection
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Having established what their characters' objectives are, an Actor must find impulses within himself to make those objectives believable reality.
In other words, he or she must find within him or herself, some emotional or spiritual truth that connects him or her to the objectives of the character.
There are many techniques to do this. Some Actors use their imagination, placing themselves within the circumstances of their characters to trigger their own emotional responses. Others equate their characters' experiences to some experiences of their own to find a personal connection.
Whatever method an Actor chooses, the fact remains the same. He or she must be unafraid to look within themselves. They must be willing to find within themselves the seeds of anger, lust, disgust, hatred, violence and even at times insanity.
To be willing to do this, an Actor must admit that all of humanity shares these inner impulses - that we all have the capacity for both good and bad. The Actor, therefore, acknowledges this within himself and strives to dig deep, unafraid of what he or she might find.
4. Actors Must Abandon Control
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Once the Actor has found these seeds within him or her, the rehearsal process begins to race ahead. He or she finds the physicality of the character and begins to really see his or her work come to fruition.
However, once it is time to perform, whether on stage or in front of the camera, the Actor cannot continue to control. The Actor must be willing to be in the moment and live and breathe as his or her character.
A moment of worry about how the performance will go, or a need to know how good the performance is will undoubtedly sabotage an Actor's performance.
This is understood very simply. If an Actor is worrying onstage or thinking about how good or bad he or she is doing or trying excessively to manipulate his or her performance, then the Actor's focus is not on what the character's focus would be on in the given circumstances of the play or the film.
As attached an Actor may become to the character he or she has created in the rehearsal room, when it comes to the time of performance, an Actor must be willing to let go. He or she must trust the larger Universe in making it work out and so must simply exist. The Actor must abandon control and leave it to the larger powers in making the performance a success.
And after the performance? He or she must not brood over it, for that can only lead to a downward spiral of overthinking, self-criticism and unnecessary analysis.
5. Actors Must Learn To Accept Rejection
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After a performance is over, the Actor moves on to look for the next role, the next job.
Yes, the harsh fact of any craft is that in our world, it is still a job. For an Actor, that means audition after audition. Which, in turn, means judgment after judgment.
An audition is, at its core, a vulnerable event where an Actor lays bare his or her talents for casting directors to judge.
It goes without saying that because there are many Actors, that competitions at auditions are always stiff. And so? Rejections come frequently.
An Actor, for his or her own health and well being, cannot let these rejections emotionally take over him or her.
He or she must learn to detach him or herself from the outcome of an audition and learn that it does not always reflect on their personal abilities.
To do this, Actors must recognize that the Universe is not against them. Believing it is will only result in a self-fulfilling prophecy. Actors must believe that the higher force or energy is working with him or her for some larger purpose. Maybe there is a better job out there in which he or she will play a role that will inspire millions. Or there is another non-acting calling waiting to be answered.
The point is, that an Actor must be willing to look at whatever life's outcomes as a process toward a better end, and that requires substantial faith.
Being an Actor is not easy, and most certainly is not all about the fame. It is not as simple as playing pretend, and definitely not something that can be excelled at with a non-spiritual viewpoint in life.
An Actor must be humble enough to recognize that he has been endowed with a duty to show the world the rich beauty and heartbreaking struggle of being human and that he can only do justice to the myriad of characters on the page by finding in himself the unified essence of all of the Universe.
He must be unafraid to expose his spirit and in doing so, give a voice to the voiceless.
