The Art of Becoming Human.

A Personal Statement of Belief

By:  S. Hunter  LaRocca

     Studying both religion and acting each are the art of becoming human. Both require a great depth of empathy, the most crucial human quality. No love can exist without empathy, neither can one learn the craft of acting without opening ourselves to a willingness for vulnerability. By letting our guard down we can let our surroundings affect us. By relinquishing control, we gain a vital aspect of humanity: the ability to render subservience to a greater power. One must humble themselves before the altar and the craft.

     Belief is just as art, it is a craft studied and practiced over many years.  Learning the craft of acting and walking the path of God both require patience and perseverance. Both disciplines require faith in your own intuition, courage to relinquish control, the ability to rely on a partner, connection with inner impulses, and the absolute necessity to submit to a higher truth.

     Neither acting nor religion is solely based on the experience of emotion, but the reality of action. Both require your whole body, mind, strength and soul to accomplish correctly. Both teach us how to open our hearts and to behave truthfully in our given circumstances. Both God and acting stimulate our imaginations, give us faith and allow us to believe whole-heartedly in a truth beyond our selves, a crucial part of becoming human.

     In theatre, all decisions must benefit the art, all actions must serve the craft. If ego ranks higher in either case, both the craft and the devotee will suffer. By forcing your perspective and direction on another, you put your own ego in front of your partner’s truth, as more important than the craft. ‘Love does not delight in falsehood but rejoices in the truth.’ The falsehood of acting is presentation. Those who put on the outward appearance of reality cause the death of art and commit a grievous sin. To become human, one must deny himself daily rather than let his ego rule.

     There is no excuse for falsehood in either discipline. Whoever puts his ego above that which he serves, insincerity arises and his work becomes void. By letting our truthful impulses determine our actions and disallowing our intellect to govern our choices, we become human to the observer.

     Just as God demands sincere devotion and an open heart, the truth of acting demands these of the craftsman. With a closed heart, man cannot hear the whispers of his soul prompting him to upright actions. An actor’s training allows us to reliably hear our intuition and consistently follow our impulses instantly without false preconceptions or the obfuscation of a cloud of intellect. The art of becoming human requires trust in one’s own self.

     For both the actor and the believer, without sincerity the work fails in the eyes of the observer and is immediately exposed as vulgar lies. Hypocrisy in either occupation favors the ego over truthful and sincere actions. Anything undertaken may have the outward appearance of sincerity, but upon scrutiny proves hollow and false. Both God and audiences reject and despise these false presentational appearances. Neither one desires to be deceived, but desire the absolute truth. Just as acting is living truthfully in imaginary circumstances, to obey God we must accept no falsehood, and act truthfully in a manner consistent with our character in the limitations of the situation. If you approach theatre or faith in God as an outward show, your works will be in vain, for outward appearances are odious in both acting and religion, bringing you farther from your essential humanity. 

     To be truthful one must abandon all pretense. If you approach truth with a preconceived notion, you stifle all organic discovery. If you rely on your own understanding, you will fall short of the truth. The release of expectation allows for genuine moments of revelation. Moments of pure inspiration can only occur in an unclouded mind; reliance on intellect obscures perception. Intellect negates opportunities to obey impulses. Our honest reaction to external stimuli belies our internal state, and both God and man delight and revel in experiencing these moments. Our fear of God and our actor’s training reliably tells us instantaneously within ourselves how to naturally react by following our  internal, unconscious desire for Truth. By our decision to ignore our conscience, we slowly become less human. Acting trains us to release our conscious mind and turn our actions over to the art before our selves. 

     In order to truly have sincerity in art, one must study and practice his craft. One is useless without the other. An actor with no training may have raw ability and potential, but no technique and no ability to harness the truth of his inspiration. In order to consistently form a conduit for truth, one must train his instrument to accept stimuli and honestly react without thinking. Training requires committed dedication. You must practice your art constantly to remain strong. Through sloth and a shirk of your duties, your art and even your essential humanity will suffer. 

    Both these devotions hold lifetime opportunities. It is incumbent on all of us to explore the depths of Belief, since there is no limit to the wisdom we may gain, nor can there be any reproach to the morally upright, empathically guided actions that arise as a necessary product of Belief in a force of truth outside ourselves.