The Vs. Studio Blog

“Many native traditions held clowns and tricksters as essential to any contact with the sacred. People could not pray until they had laughed, because laughter opens and frees from rigid preconception. Humans had to have tricksters within the most sacred ceremonies for fear that they forget the sacred comes through upset, reversal, surprise. The trickster in most native traditions is essential to creation, to birth.” -Byrd Gibbens

‘It’s your outlook on life that counts. If you take yourself lightly and don’t take yourself too seriously, pretty soon you can find the humor in our everyday lives. And sometimes it can be a lifesaver.” -Betty White

“All humor is based on hostility.” -Neil Simon

“Humor is an attitude, a survivor’s way of looking at life. It’s not about telling jokes.” -Michael Shurtleff

A key element I look for in a play to produce as Artistic Director of Vs. Theatre is humor throughout. (It’s also probably the hardest thing to master as a playwright.)

Not jokes.

Actual, situational, truthful humor.

Because if you can get them (the audience) laughing, then you can get them crying.

And make a real and lasting impact.

“Another has done me wrong? Let him see to it. He has his own tendencies, and his own affairs. What I have now is what the common nature has willed, and what I endeavor to accomplish now is what my nature wills.” -Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

“If we do not transform our pain, we will most assuredly transmit it.” -Richard Rohr

“Abraham Lincoln occasionally got fuming mad with a subordinate, one of his generals, even a friend. Rather than taking it out on that person directly, he’d write a long letter, outlining his case why they were wrong and what he wanted them to know. Then Lincoln would fold it up, put the letter in the desk drawer, and never send it. Many of these letters survive only by chance.

He knew, as the former emperor of Rome knew, that it’s easy to fight back. It’s tempting to give them a piece of your mind. But you almost always end up with regret. You almost always wish you hadn’t sent the letter. Think of the last time you flew off the handle. What was the outcome? Was there any benefit?” -Ryan Holiday, The Daily Stoic

“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom” -Viktor Frankl

It happens every day. You get a text or email or call that deeply upsets or disappoints you.

Two Things NOT to do.

(1) Send an angry email or text right back at them. Now is not the time. You’re too emotional.

(2) Not do anything. You need to channel that emotion somewhere. Otherwise it will eat away at you.

Instead, follow Lincoln. Sit down and write an email draft (or old school pen and paper). Channel your feelings and frustrations into it. Get it all out. But don’t send it. Just save it.

Then come back the next day and reread your email with a good night’s sleep and a fresh pair of eyes. You’ll either revise it (maybe even with some empathy for their position) and send it, or determine there is no need to send it all.

Either way, you didn’t hold on to or transmit that pain. You transformed it.

“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

“You’ll find your answer in action, not research.” -Paul Shirley

‘”As you start to walk on the way, the way appears.” -Rumi

When you have an idea that lights you up, rather than do a bunch of research or talk to a bunch of people about it, just take one, small action step.

Research and discussion has its place, but more often than not you will end up losing precious momentum or talk yourself out of the idea.

Your initial action coupled with your iteration and learning from this action is all the research you need.

“The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.” -Stephen Covey

“Talent without effort is wasted talent. And while effort is the one thing you can control in your life, applying that effort intelligently is next on the list.” -Mark Cuban

Before you can keep the main thing the main thing, you need to know what your main thing is.

Do you?

“To err is human, to forgive, divine.” -Alexander Pope

“When people injure you, ask yourself what good or harm they thought would come of it. If you understand that, you’ll feel sympathy rather than outrage or anger.” -Marcus Aurelius

“Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.” -Hanlon’s Razor

“How much better to heal than seek revenge from injury. Vengeance wastes a lot of time and exposes you to many more injuries than the first that sparked it.” -Seneca

“Misunderstandings and neglect occasion more mischief in the world than even malice and wickedness.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“No one does wrong willingly.” -Socrates

A close friend or family member wronged you. You’re hurt, angry, sad.

Okay.

But do they actually know they wronged you?

There’s a pretty good chance they don’t.

Sometimes, true friendship is about having the courage and vulnerability to let them know they did. And why what they did (or didn’t do) hurt you.

If it’s a relationship you truly care about, then you will.

“It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.” -Picasso

“We think, ‘I’m good because I obey this commandment, because I do this kind of work, or because I belong to this group.’ That’s the calculus the ego understands. The human psyche, all organizations, and governments need this kind of common-sense structure at some level. But that game has to fall apart, or it will kill us.” -Richard Rohr

Rules are great. At their core, they should help us. Serve us all in the game of life.

When it comes to your art though, while you should absolutely know the rules, study them, and learn everything you can about technique…

…At some point, you must have the courage to drop the rules and be guided by your own intuition and subconscious.

For that’s how the truly great, the sublime, the memorable art gets made.

“My whole life has been nothing more than a continuous struggle against Reaction and the death of art.” -Pablo Picasso

I highly encourage you to read George Bothamley’s recent post on Picasso’s Guernica painting which you can do Here. As well as subscribe to his “Art Every Day” Substack. (I’ve recommended it prior.)

One sublime snippet from it that I thought to share with you…

It comes from some time in the 1940s, during the Second World War – when Picasso was still living in Paris, and would often have to suffer through studio visits from Nazi soldiers or members of the Gestapo.

Essentially, these men had been tasked with rooting out any art / artists that were deemed “not suitable” for their agenda at the time. And, as you can imagine, men like this would often take a strange pleasure in striking a bit of fear into whoever they met – just to make sure they knew who was really in charge here!

So, on one particular visit to Picasso’s studio, an officer actually brought with him a small newspaper clipping, which featured a picture of Picasso’s notorious “Guernica” painting. 

And while locking his eyes on the artist with a stern gaze (obviously hoping to see the famous man in Paris reduced to a cowering wreck)- the officer handed the little clipping to Picasso, saying “Did you do this?”

Picasso glanced briefly at the paper. 

But to the surprise of all who were present that day – the artist did not even flinch.

Instead, he simply looked back at the officer again – pointing to the Nazi flag on the man’s uniform.

And, with an astonishing level of composure, Picasso simply replied:

“No. You did it!”

“Our comforting conviction that the world makes sense rests on a secure foundation: our almost unlimited ability to ignore our ignorance.” -Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow

We’re not as rational as we think.

Just look back on all your past decisions and actions, and the thinking (or lack of it) behind them. Some were good. Some were well…

We’re not always rational. We’re messy. Emotional. We have tons of blindspots and we bungle all kinds of decisions.

That’s okay.

We’re human.

Remember this in your art (aim to be truthful over being “logical”) and in your life (be aware of all your cognitive biases so you can make better decisions).

And read this phenomenal Farnham Street article/interview recap. The eleven takeaways he lists are spot on.

Speaking of meditating and being still, one idea that might help (my good friend Z passed this on to me)…

Picture your monkey mind and anxious thoughts as just foam. To get to the good stuff, to get to the beer, you’ve first got to pour out the foam. So let those thoughts just pour out of you. Don’t resist them. Be thankful for them. Eventually you’ll find your stillness.

And if that fails, go have a Guinness!

“All of humanity’s problems stem from a person’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” -Blaise Pascal

“I have so much to accomplish today that I must meditate for two hours instead of one.” -Mahatma Gandhi

“Be still and know that I am God.” -Psalm 46:10

“Stillness is what aims the archer’s arrow. It inspires new ideas. It sharpens perspective and illuminates connections. It slows the ball down so that we might hit it. It generates a vision, helps us resist the passions of the mob, makes space for gratitude and wonder.” -Ryan Holiday, book Stillness Is The Key

“Do you have the patience to wait
Till your mud settles and the water is clear?
Can you remain unmoving
Till the right action arises by itself?” -Lao tzu, Tao Te Ching (Stephen Mitchell translation)

If you’re trying to be still and meditate and you just can’t because your monkey mind is running all over the place and you have all these anxious and sometimes angry thoughts like “why am I here?”, “this is stupid”, “I’m getting nothing out of this?”, “what am I gonna eat for dinner?”, “why did that person say that to me?” “I wanna do something else with my life”, “what should I do with my life?”, “what is my purpose?”, “this is stupid”, “I don’t have time for this,” “who sits like this and just does nothing?”, “I suck at meditating”, “this isn’t for me”…and you just wanna get up and be done with it…

…That’s good. That’s really good.

It means you’re doing it. You’re in the right spot.

Keep doing it.

Thank your thoughts and keep being still

The clarity you seek will come.

Trust.

Be still.