Mindfulness
and memory, or rather the act and state of remembering,
are inextricably connected. When we practice mindfulness we remember what is present, we remember to stay present in the present moment from one
moment to the next, and we remember
in the present moment what has already happened. In other words,
mindfulness is all about remembering
the present ... that is, 'keeping' the present in mind. Put simply, mindfulness
is remembering to be 'here' ... and
to stay 'here' ... now.
Mindful awareness is
a form of meta-cognition in which there is an awareness of awareness and an attention
to intention. What is ‘awareness of awareness’? Well, mindfulness remembers awareness as well as the
objects of awareness. When we practise
mindfulness we are constantly reminding ourselves, not just to be aware, but
also that we are
now aware, that is, that we are already
aware.
A lifelong student and chronicler of
the performing arts, especially the musical theatre as well as the cinema, I have a fascination with so-called ‘method acting.’ Now, I hate that word ‘method,’ as well as the word
‘system’ coined by the progenitor of method
acting, Constantin Stanislavski [pictured left]. Some of you will have heard
the Zen story that goes like this. A disciple says to the master, ‘I have been
four months with you, and you have still given me no method or technique.’ The
master says, ‘A method? What on earth would you want a method for?’ The
disciple says, ‘To attain inner freedom.’ The master roars with laughter, and
then says, ‘You need great skill indeed to set yourself free by means of the
trap called a method.’ Even Stanislavski wrote something similar about acting: ‘Create your own
method. Don't depend slavishly on mine. Make up something that will work for
you! But keep breaking traditions, I beg you.’
So, my friends, I
have a real aversion to all so-called ‘methods’, ‘systems’ and ‘techniques.’ Mindfulness,
which takes meditation (awareness) and applies it to one’s whole day, indeed one’s
whole life, has been described as the ‘method of no method.’ Now, when it comes
to method acting, I have always sensed that attempts to substitute a ‘real-life’
emotion for that required in a particular scene has a strong element of
artificiality about it, and even borders on the mechanical. Yet some of the
world’s greatest actors have taken full advantage of the ‘method.’ To what
extent their greatness is attributable to their use of the ‘method’ is perhaps
a matter for further reflection and study. Many great actors have proudly
confessed that they used no method at all.
Method acting is a
number of things, one of which is that it is an eclectic but fairly systematic collection of techniques
designed to assist the actor to ‘become,’ and even ‘live’ the character they’re
playing. One such technique is sense
memory, in which the actor remembers
(recalls) by the five senses the sensory (that is, physical) impressions surrounding
some emotional event experienced by the actor in their own life. This is
largely done by concentrating on the various stimuli associated with the
sensory impressions. Then there’s affective
memory (otherwise known as ‘emotional memory’ and ‘emotional recall’), in
which the actor calls on the memory of
details from a situation with similar emotional import to the one the actor is
being called upon to act out. The actor searches their memory for some parallel
event before proceeding to create its
‘reliving.’ (This may or may not be therapeutically good for you. At the risk of being provocative, I don't think it did any good for Marilyn Monroe, and may even have harmed her. Method acting is not for the faint-hearted, and certainly not for those with deep and unresolved psychiatric problems. That's my considered view. Take it or leave it.)
‘Acting isn't something you do,’
wrote Lee Strasberg [pictured right], the man who further developed Stanislavski’s
system. ‘Instead of doing it, it occurs. If you're going to start with logic,
you might as well give up. You can have conscious preparation, but you have unconscious
results.’ I think that mindful living is like that. It is not so much something
that you do. Rather, it is something that---occurs. Well, it occurs when you
are alert, vigilant, open (even open-ended), patient, curious, flexible,
interested, receptive (but detached), aware, and aware that you are aware. It is not, however, a matter of
concentration (heaven forbid), and the attention required is described as being
‘bare,’ that is, it is just
enough attention
to ‘wake up’ to the present moment, to ‘stay awake’ (and 'here and now'), and
to observe what is taking place---in other words, just enough attention to be
able to discern, and remember to stay present in the present
moment from one moment to the next, without
discriminating or judging. I recall Stanislavski’s definition of ‘talent’ as being ‘nothing but a
prolonged period of attention and a shortened period of mental assimilation.’ I
like that. That’s bare attention.
Further, the
awareness required is something you 'bring', effortlessly,
and continuously,
to each moment of the day. Awareness
is also something 'in' which we 'live', in the sense of living in awareness of
the present moment. I am talking about an awareness of all that the present
moment 'contains' (thoughts, perceptions, assumptions, tendencies, memories,
feelings, bodily sensations, sounds, etc). Something Strasberg said about
acting seems pertinent to the practice of mindfulness: ‘To give words meaning,
you must first know the reality, the thoughts, sensations and experiences that
the words stand for. If you don't understand the meaning of a line and why you
say it, you may have missed the key to the scene.’
I mentioned above that awareness
of the kind required by mindfulness is not a matter of concentration, at least
as that word is ordinarily construed. Rather, it is a matter of being fixed and
focused on the action of the present moment---including when remembering in the present
moment what has already happened
(eg sensory elements of some past emotional event)---without concern that the
experience we are remembering (recreating) will appear. This is also the
essence of concentration as used in method acting, in that the actor
concentrates on the sensory elements of the presently remembered emotional
event without concern that the emotion the actor desires to produce will
actually appear. As Lee Strasberg pointed out, it is not something you do, but
something that happens or occurs. It’s the result of an effortless effort. Note those words.
One of the most famous method
actors of all time, James Dean [pictured left], had this to say about acting: ‘An actor must
interpret life, and in order to do so must be willing to accept all the
experiences life has to offer. In fact, he must seek out more of life than life
puts at his feet.’ That’s the essence of living mindfully.
