from the pages of TAT Journal, Issue 6
I read these words today and began thinking. What does this mean? To live creative life, lose fear of wrong? Hmmm. I have pondered it all day.
What does it mean to be wrong? This is the state where my opinion or thought is not accepted by other people. That whether my thought, mathematically, socially, morally, or anything else, is different from the general consensus then I am wrong. It means I am going against. Okay, that seems fine. There have been times in history when those who were wrong were eventually able to prove they were right - there was much persecution and challenge along the way - but when they finally go there all was well (Capernicus, Galileo, Tesla....) These people all knew when to stand behind their opinions - things begin to make sense.
If we are wrong we often will fight tooth and nail to be right. Being right means acceptance, it means fitting in and from that an easy path. Who would not want to be right. So without these things we are ostracized, looked down on, ridiculed and so on. In order to avoid these things we fight.
Fighting for me takes a lot of energy. I channel everything into it and as a by product of that I typically shut down everything else becoming single focussed. I do this out of fear, fear of not being accepted, fear of being wrong, fear of not having value - for if my statement has no value then how do I? With all that fear running through me and all my energy dedicated to proving (fighting) that I am right when do I act creatively? And so it makes sense and I think it is an exceptionally insightful statement.
If I lose my fear of being wrong, I can accept the challenges that come with being wrong. I can then open myself to other points of view, I can see alternatives and be open to receive offers and different opinions. As an actor I read that list and recognize these are the skills I need to effectively interact on stage and screen. So let me echo the words of Joseph Chilton Pearce once more
To Live A Creative Life,
We MUST Lose Our Fear Of Being Wrong!
I think it isn't just not fighting, it's also part of the risk taking attitude. Kind of comes back to your Bugs Bunny idea, in that BB doesn't care if he's wrong, he'll just experiment anyway.
ReplyDeleteThe only way to lose fear of something is to do it, again and again and again. So spend the day being wrong!