“This is the practice of cleaning the slate. The ability to create as an artist and experience the work as a first time viewer, dropping baggage from the past of what you thought you wanted the work to be. The mission is to be in the present moment with the work.” -Rick Rubin, The Creative Act
For the director…
Clean the slate.
What you noted in yesterday’s rehearsal might not be there today.
Get your head out of your legal pad. Look up and really watch what the actors are doing. Really listen to what they are saying. Do so with an open heart, an open mind and a fresh set of eyes and ears.
P.S. – The chapter “Clean Slate” in Rick Rubin’s book, The Creative Act should be required reading for any aspiring director. His discussion of the final recording mix is absolute gold.
Life’s too short to paint a kiss So sing a picture, paint a song Take it home and bang your gong Cause life is an ill cast comedy for fools -lyrics from “Symphony for Group and Orchestra” by Lee Jackson and band The Nice
O gentlemen, the time of life is short; To spend that shortness basely were too long If life did ride upon a dial’s point, Still ending at the arrival of an hour. An if we live, we live to tread on kings; If die, brave death, when princes die with us. -Hotspur in William Shakespeare’s “Henry IV, Part 1”
“Ars longa, vita brevis” roughly translated means “Art is long, life is short.” (Another translation taken from the ancient physician Hippocrates, is “Skillfulness takes time and life is short.)
Similar to “Memento Mori”, meditating on “Ars longa, vita brevis” should inspire and motivate us to make our art.
Making your way in the world today Takes everything you’ve got Taking a break from all your worries Sure would help a lot Wouldn’t you like to get away?
All those nights when you’ve got no lights The check is in the mail And your little angel Hung the cat up by it’s tail And your third fiance didn’t show
Sometimes you wanna go Where everybody knows your name And they’re always glad you came You wanna be where you can see (ah-ah) Our troubles are all the same (ah-ah) You wanna be where everybody knows your name -Theme song to the television show, “Cheers”
For the producer…
Greet every single audience member who walks in to that lobby with a warm and welcoming smile. Introduce yourself.
Thank them for coming. (Besides the money they spent and the time they’re giving up, they also braved traffic, parking and other elements to be here tonight.)
Then, look them in the eye and say…
“I’m really glad you’re here.”
If you do this with sincerity and assuming your production is excellent, they’ll be back for the next one. (Even if they’re not, it’s simply the right thing to do.)
“If you feel unable to hit a note or faithfully paint an image, it’s helpful to remember that the challenge is not that you can’t do it, but that you haven’t done it yet. Avoid thinking in impossibilities.” -Rick Rubin, The Creative Act
“Allow an old man some parting words–just one observation–Do something with your lives, ladies and gentlemen! You must always take action and do something.” -Serebyakov in Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov (Annie Baker adaptation)
Doing hard things won’t make the next hard thing any easier. It’s always hard, especially when you’re making art.
But it will increase your capability, boost your confidence and remind you that when obstacles surface, it’s all part of the process. Amor fati.
That way, when the next hard thing comes up, your attitude is simply…
“You are the sky. Everything else is weather.” -Pema Chodron
“Empty your mind of all thoughts. Let your heart be at peace.”–Tao Te Ching by Lao-Tzu (Stephen Mitchell translation)
“Empty your mind. Be formless, shapeless like water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle…Be water my friend.” -Bruce Lee
“The mind is originally empty, and only when it remains empty, without grasping or rejecting, can it respond to natural things, without prejudice. It should be like a river gorge with a swan flying overhead; the river has no desire to retain the swan, yet the swan’s passage is traced by its shadow, without any omission. Another example: A mirror will reflect all things perfectly, whether they are beautiful or ugly; it never refuses to show a thing, nor does it retain the thing after it is gone. The mind should be as open as this.” -Lin Ching-hsi
“Our mind is like glass of clear water. If we put salt into the water, it becomes salt water; sugar, it becomes sugar water; shit, it becomes shit water. But originally the water is clear. No thinking. No mind, no problem.” -Zen Master Seung Sahn
An empty mind doesn’t mean not having any thoughts. That’s impossible.
Rather, I believe it means not clinging to your thoughts. Instead, just notice them. See them on a giant movie screen in front of you. Watch them go by. Let them come and then let them go.
Just like water, you can’t restrict, control or hold on to your thoughts. But you can flow with them. And every once in a while, you can nudge them in the right direction.
“Looking at beauty in the world is the first step of purifying the mind.” -Amit Ray
“We should remember that even Nature’s inadvertence has its own charm, its own attractiveness. The way loaves of bread split open on top in the oven; the ridges are just by-products of the baking, and yet pleasing, somehow: they rouse our appetite without our knowing why. Or how ripe figs begin to burst. And olives on the point of falling: the shadow of decay gives them a peculiar beauty. Stalks of wheat bending under their own weight. The furrowed brow of the lion. Flecks of foam on the boar’s mouth. And other things. If you look at them in isolation there’s nothing beautiful about them, and yet by supplementing nature they enrich it and draw us in. And anyone with a feeling for nature—a deeper sensitivity—will find it all gives pleasure. Even what seems inadvertent. He’ll find the jaws of live animals as beautiful as painted ones or sculptures. He’ll look calmly at the distinct beauty of old age in men, women, and at the loveliness of children. And other things like that will call out to him constantly—things unnoticed by others. Things seen only by those at home with Nature and its works.” -Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is. I do know how to pay attention -Mary Oliver
Wanna change your mood? Get into a charged state? Have more gratitude?
Put yourself and the world around you, on notice.
A little primer…
Close your eyes.
Start with your thoughts. Notice those. Without judging them. Just notice.
Then, notice your body. How do you feel? Any aches and pains? Again, don’t judge the feelings. Just notice.
Notice your breath. In and out. In and out. In and out. Notice.
Notice your emotions.
Notice your five senses.
Again, no judgment. Just notice.
Then go outside and take a little walk. Notice every single thing you see. The sky, the birds, the trees, the falling leaves, the wet grass, the wind on your face.
Notice. Notice. Notice.
Repeat the above sequence as many times as necessary.
And read this beautiful poem from Mary Oliver…
Poem 133: The Summer Day
Who made the world? Who made the swan, and the black bear? Who made the grasshopper? This grasshopper, I mean— the one who has flung herself out of the grass, the one who is eating sugar out of my hand, who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down— who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes. Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face. Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away. I don’t know exactly what a prayer is. I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass, how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields, which is what I have been doing all day. Tell me, what else should I have done? Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon? Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?
A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent upon arriving. A good artist lets his intuition lead him wherever it wants. A good scientist has freed himself of concepts and keeps his mind open to what is. -Tao Te Ching by Lao-Tzu (Stephen Mitchell translation)
“I saw the angel in the marble, and carved until I set him free.” -Michelangelo when asked how he sculpted the statue of David
Scientists and artists have much in common. They both start with blind faith, a belief in something that doesn’t exist. They both are ignited by possibility and discovery. Whether that’s inventing a new molecule, writing a new play or carving a statue from a block of marble. They both are trying something that might not work in service of others.
The artist can benefit from taking a scientific approach to their art. Nothing is a failure. Rather, it’s an experiment. Trial and error. Testing. Researching. Learning. Iterating. It’s all part of the scientific process.
The answer, the art you see in your head, it’s out there. You just haven’t found it yet. You will.
“I could tell you that I’ve been tryin’ to uncover the abyss beneath my illusory connection with the world. I could tell you that it’s all written in the stars. I could tell you that I’m a reverse paranoiac. I am quite certain that the world is conspirin’ to make me happy. All three of which are true but it’s really simpler than that. I like to have fun, man. Fun is the fuckin’ gun, man.” Moondog in the film The Beach Bum
The reader or audience member should feel like you had a blast, a great f’ing time making your art. It can be hard, but it better be fun. Otherwise what’s the point?
Remember, when you have fun, we have fun. So resolve to have more of it this year. In all that you do.
P.S. – If Moondog isn’t enough inspiration for you, check out this excellent article on why having more fun is the key to a great life. How it will lead to you having more energy, more enthusiasm and more resiliency.
“In my end is my beginning” - T.S. Eliot, poem East Coker
“Sometimes the greatest challenge is to actually begin; there is something deep in us that conspires with what wants to remain within safe boundaries and stay the same… Sometimes a period of preparation is necessary, where the idea of the beginning can gestate and refine itself; yet quite often we unnecessarily postpone and equivocate when we should simply take the risk and leap into a new beginning.” -John O’Donohue
It’s January 1, 2024. New day, new week, new year. Lines up nicely, doesn’t it?
What’s the project that’s tugging at your heart? Are you scared to begin?
Don’t be.
Everything you’ve done before, including your “mistakes”, your postponements, your procrastinations, has led you to this point.
In out-of-the-way places of the heart, Where your thoughts never think to wander, This beginning has been quietly forming, Waiting until you were ready to emerge.
For a long time it has watched your desire, Feeling the emptiness growing inside you, Noticing how you willed yourself on, Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.
It watched you play with the seduction of safety And the gray promises that sameness whispered, Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent, Wondered would you always live like this.
Then the delight, when your courage kindled, And out you stepped onto new ground, Your eyes young again with energy and dream, A path of plenitude opening before you.
Though your destination is not yet clear You can trust the promise of this opening; Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning That is at one with your life’s desire.
Awaken your spirit to adventure; Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk; Soon you will be home in a new rhythm, For your soul senses the world that awaits you.
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