– If acting is so important for man’s development, why was it so ridiculed and even persecuted for so many centuries? Some people were even burned at the stake for it.
– Actors were always ridiculed. They only became respected in our “progressive” era. Humanity does not have the right approach to creating a connection between us. We connect through our egoism. We don’t do it through interference, but however each of us finds it most convenient for himself. We connect through a kind of buffer: “I give to you and you give to me.” That’s how we buy, sell, and exchange pleasantries. Depending on our age and other factors, we change the levels of our status, power, and force.
From every direction we establish the maximum possible egoistic contact, while keeping a certain distance as a safety net against unexpected turns in our relationships, even noticing the changes in one’s intonation. It controls us from within. And humanity automatically followed this principle, which enabled every person to define his place right away. It works as if we are a herd of animals where each specimen knows it place and function. It knows when it can or cannot do something. And the exact same thing happens in the human society. Because we are egoists, we act by the same principle.
But when acting appears, it becomes unclear. Who are these people? Are they commoners or lords? Are they strong or weak? Are they good or bad? Or maybe they are bandits? One’s individuality is lost, depriving us of the ability to form normal, egoistic communication.
In the past everything was clearly delineated. People aspired to put everyone in their fixed places—you are a psychologist so you have to wear a black shirt, for example, and it can’t be otherwise.
People even settled in different places depending on their professions, their guild. You had to live at the street you were appointed to and choose a wife from a specific circle. Your family had to abide by a set pattern of life, and your hat and attire had to have a specific cut, with no other options. Everything was prescribed, down to the food people ate, absolutely everything. You were even told, “This will be your cemetery.”
Everything was clear—who lives where, his origin, who he is allowed to come into contact with, and from whom he should stay away.
But actors mixed all of that up. They made fun of and laughed at everyone. Some puny little actor was acting as if he were a prince! This was admissible only if people would internalize the idea that the work of an actor is the lowest of all the possible professions, immoral and plebeian.
During the necessitated division of society, especially during the Middle Ages, no one could even think about developing their contacts or making other people understand them. Everyone had to be perfectly obedient. The most that was allowed was for strangers to dance a minuet together.
But today everything is the opposite. We have to communicate with one another the right way. And for that, we have to learn to “enter” the characters of other people.
We have to understand that humanity had to go through all of its phases in order to reach the current phase. Today, we have to break all the limits of the past and form the right social communication. And for that, a person has to learn to play the characters of other people.