Ok, before you get your panties in a bunch let's get one thing clear: I AM an optimist.
I read somewhere that the Dalai Lama once said, "I call the high and light aspects of my being spirit, and the dark and heavy aspects soul." Lately, I've spent a lot of time teeter-tottering between two divergent schools of modern thought. One shouting, "Embrace the grind! Productivity! Productivity! PRODUCTIVITY!", and the other telling me to chill, prey, visualize, and trust that the Universe has got my back. I'll tell ya where I'm going with this...
See, I've carried this monologue -the one performed in the video, an excerpt from Here Lies Henry by Daniel MacIvor- in the back of my pocket for a little over 10 years. It's different every time I perform it and this time the idea of "the spine of the soul [being] hope," as mentioned in the piece is finally sinking in for me.
The character (Henry) flip-flops between light and darkness throughout the play and as I'm presently teeter-tottering between two modern attitudes in my own life it dawns on me that HOPE from Henry's perspective is the weapon our dark side wields at us in the face of action. HOPE tricks us in delaying until tomorrow, in convincing us we'll magically obtain motivation tomorrow. HOPE is for the non-doers, it's based on expectation and desire. FAITH on the other hand spurs from deep confidence and trust. But that's another subject.
So when the character (Henry) says, "and of course you have hope, but that's where we differ. Let's have some music! Let's have some fun!", he's really saying, "Unlike you, I'm not an idle man, I like to MOVEIT, MOVEIT! I like to MOVEIT, MOVEIT! I like to MOVEIT, MOVEIT!"
And that, my friends, becomes an entirely new video.
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