THE THIRD ACT: OR TAKING THE WIDE ANGLE SHOT

I’ve been writing my story. Its an interesting process and I would recommend this to anyone who wants a surprise and a new look at their life. When you read it back to yourself you get the view of your life ordinarily seen only by your therapist. An autobiography sounds vain for someone who isn’t famous, but publishing isn’t required to reap benefits from telling your story, it isn’t even necessary to share it.  Of course, most of us remember the momentous events from different times in our lives, but it isn’t the same as taking a wide angle shot that includes everything in one picture. Those random bits of memory don’t reveal a whole life. It’s a bit like that old story about the blind guys describing the elephant. Each accurately described the part they were feeling but were way off on the true elephant.

This isn’t about an objective view of events, but that is what makes it interesting. You are both the participant and observer. It is much like dream interpretation, and your life is the dream. I’m lucky to have memories as far back as two years. Thus, my memory of those earliest days is tainted with the world view of a two-year-old. There are a few of those very early memories that may be less than factual but if I look at them the way I would a dream, I immediately recognize the meaning and even that multi-dimensional quality that dreams and myths have.  As the saying goes, “a picture is worth a thousand words” and children experience life in 3D moving pictures. By the time adulthood covers our essence with socially canned experiences, it is very difficult to uncover the potential power of an experience.

“Then he said, I tell you solemnly, unless you change and become like little children you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.  And so, the one who makes himself as little as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” So said Master Jesus, (Mathew 18:3-4, Jerusalem Bible). Religion is a central character in my story. It is a teacher and deceiver, trickster and motivator. I had to go through stages of trying to believe, partial belief, fear, atheism, despair, exploration of comparative religions and several bouts of intense loathing of all religions. The process of returning to the unfiltered perception of experience changed my view of myself and the little moment of time I have as a human against the timeless state beyond my perception.  Children haven’t sorted out the layers of experience that adults agree to believe in. 

The next most revealing time of life is elder-hood. Now that I am an elder, I am aware that the theme of the story begins in  the first act. The second act is the struggle to be in the world and accomplish whatever began in the first act. The third act is about recognizing the structure and meaning of the story.  What is the theme of this appearance on planet earth for this tiny bit of time/space? Where did I succeed, where did I fail? If you call down your wiser higher self, you may be surprised to discover that what you thought was failure or success may be in the wrong order. 

As a young child you came in without prejudices and expectations, and now as an elder the prejudices and expectations acquired in the second act may seem fruitless, insufficient or a proud accomplishment but still only a good beginning. Unless you achieve the status of ascended master, the story will resume. Like the seasons of the year, and the life forms of nature you may begin with power and promise, you may have a bad start but overcome adversity, or you may have a brilliant beginning and fall to a serious defeat. You may not believe that we continue to repeat the process in another body on this dimension. However, even if you are not comfortable with this view of existence, I think you can see how there are acts to our lives like the acts in a play.

My friend Marsha Pincus brought this three-act way of perceiving life into high relief for me about a year ago. She herself began a new act, went through the challenges of shedding an old identity and is experiencing the birth of a new creative vision and has become an advocate for the profound social importance of elders who courageously embrace their third act. This is a revolutionary prospect especially for women whom our culture diminishes when the outer form reveals age.  

I was privileged to be subject of this first interview by Marsha Pincus in a series she intends to create about women who are finding their stride in the Third Act of life.  I believe she is onto something important and overlooked in on our surface based society. I'm not used to being interviewed or filmed so find some of my comments lacking in finesse but I'm very privileged to have this beautiful, intelligent and creative friend who immediately recognized the importance of revealing the hidden jewels of a lifetime and presenting them with honor. The Third Act is of great importance to men as well, and our culture has failed to recognize and honor inner self knowledge, as a sublime achievement beyond the achievements of the so called socially productive years where we serve the outer world. The inner world is the deep well from which we drink the transforming elixir of true creativity and progress.

When I came to Taos, it was like circling back to some of the same experiences I had as a small child. However, it was higher in the spiral of life, a more refined dimension of the same issues. Now I see the move to Taos and New Mexico, land of my heart, as another progression up the spiral essence of life. However, this is a ladder that moves in two directions; up and down. Every step up changes the influence of the past as well as the present as it births the future while transcending the limited perception of  our earlier life’s choices.