The world is made of verbs

This from James Hillman in The Soul’s Code. An apt a description for what the process of practicing presence feels like.

The world is made less of nouns than of verbs. It doesn’t consist merely in objects and things; it is filled with useful, playful, and intriguing opportunities. The oriole doesn’t see a branch, but an occasion for perching; the cat doesn’t see a thing we call an empty box, it sees safe hiding for peering. The bear doesn’t smell honeycomb, but the opportunity for delicious feeding. The world is buzzing and blooming with information, which is always available and never absent.

Actor-Shaman

The actor as shaman embodies the hopes, dreams, doubts, and weaknesses of the audience – becomes a screen on which all of these are projected. But the screen must BE. It must not be blank and must be PRESENT and visible and OPEN TO THE GAZE OF THE “OTHER.”

Our instinct is to hide, either by getting small (physically or in spirit) or by putting up a front, by “acting” – impersonating or declaring.

To do neither is an act of courage that has nothing to do with fearlessness or with arrogance. It’s just to know and be exactly where one is in the present moment.

[updated March 1, 2009]