The sequel to my article on “Acting as a Path to a Spirituality of Compassion.”
best regards,
ian
—
On Teachers, Teaching, and Learning
by Michael Ian Lomongo, May 31, 2002
“When the student is ready, the teacher will come.”
In a previous essay that I wrote, I reflected on the spirituality of acting (and of any art for that matter) and the question of a possible incongruity between the excellence of one’s art (craft/skill/talent/competence) and one’s life (the great Art of one’s life). A friend commented that my question comes from the tendency to confuse two different realms, which may fortunately coincide, but need not do so. The level of a person’s artistic maturity is not necessarily an indication of personal (integral) maturity. Simply put, quite a number of Great artists can be real MAJOR-assholes.
But I really wonder… If we try to survey the great works of art, don’t we always encounter the quite “trite” teaching of “love and compassion”?(Something that all of us know but are still learning.) Don’t we feel humbled that each one of us (no matter how excellent and exalted we may think/feel we are) is truly but a tiny, insignificant speck in the universe? And then the paradox that each one of us is nonetheless unique and precious. Each one is a child of God, but not God. No one is the center of the universe, and yet each one holds the universe within. And how we divine humans can be so funny and yet so sad at different times in our lives (sometimes even at the same time in our lives!).
Where do we find these teachings? Everywhere, and in a special way, in great works of art. In a way that may be beautiful, intense, happy, poignant, exultant, excruciating, bitter-sweet… But always, in a way that is mind-expanding, heart-expanding, life-expanding!In a way that makes us say: “Thank you, I’m alive! Someday I’ll die. But right now, I’m alive! Salamat. Salamat. Salamat!”
Simplistic? Cliche? Hogwash? Smacks of the “new age”?
It is indeed true that we get to hear these things from con men, madmen and “false” prophets. But the polluted source does not detract from the truth of the message. It’s just that the speaker/writer lacks credibility and authority. (Without, of course, forgetting that one man’s religion is another’s superstition.)
Hey, maybe that’s it! Great artists whose lives do not reflect the greatness of their art might in fact be con-artists, madmen, or false prophets. Maybe I’m being unfair. Or maybe they’re simply not great enough. Or maybe the discrepancy between one’s life and one’s work is one more lesson/invitation to see how funny-sad fledgling human beings are.
The age of the Prima Donnas has passed. Divas are dead. Maybe it’s a phase that some artists need to pass through. Or maybe for others it’s more of a joke, or one of the multifarious masks that they get to wear. But to get stuck in it, or take the role too seriously…? “Diva” indeed starts off as a label of divinity. But let us remember that when the “i†in Diva becomes too bloated, the name transmogrifies into a devilish/demonic devi or devah, a subject matter for divinity… under the branch of demonology. O, di vah?
Long live the truly great artists, who are truly divine! For me, these are those who remain level-headed in spite of the great success that they have achieved. Who with great clarity of sight, remain humble. Who with great clarity of insight, acknowledge that everyone always has something to learn from, and teach to, others.
I’ve had lots of great teacher-artists. I look up to them as role models because I see them as great artist-teachers, and more importantly, as great human beings.
I consider them as gurus. (They would probably be the first ones to make a disavowal, due to the cultic and pretentious baggage that the word brings.) But “guru” (Tagalog “guro”; Japanese “sensei.”) simply means “teacher.” Of course, I take it to mean as someone who’s more than a conveyor of knowledge and skills. I take it to mean as a teacher of wisdom, a teacher of life: a wellspring. One whose depth of spirituality and artistry does not come so much from his/her pronouncements as from the attitude that could be observed in his/her behavior.
Dedication to the craft. A passion for living. Humility of spirit. Inner joy. A partiality for a deep and truthful simplicity rather than a superficial complexity.
Happy are we who have drawn from the abundance of their generous spirit!
When the student is ready, the teacher will appear. When the student is ready, he/she will be able to see, learn, and understand. When the student is ready, he/she too can teach.
Prepare ye the way of the teacher, within.
“Awaken me… awaken me… awaken me.”
Salamat.
To my teachers…