What Is The Right Age To Start Studying Acting?

April 1, 2012 at 9:15 pm · Filed under Education

Dr. Anatoly Ulianov: When a person creates a certain new facet within himself, he discovers how multi-faceted he is. How many facets can there be in a person? And at what age can this be taught to a child?

Dr. Michael Laitman: This cannot be taught to very young children because the “herd feeling” is not expressed in them before the age of 3. Until age 3 their little individuality does not imagine that there is someone else outside of them, with other needs. At that age a child does not communicate and is aimed only at reception.

But between the ages of 3-6, children develop the rudimentary understanding of bestowal and interaction. Between ages 6-9, this understanding is strengthened and remains that way for the rest of their lives. During this delicate age, Nature offers us a unique opportunity to instill in a child the right attitude toward the environment.

Dr. Ulianov: Is it possible to teach this to a child through acting?

Dr. Laitman: This is what we are trying to do. We understand that this act has to be two-sided. And I want children to be taught the skill of acting in the framework of our educational association.

We have to show a child that it is possible to come out of himself and ascend above his own qualities. At first, children can tune out of their problems and worries in this way. And later we teach them a different role. A child is like an actor with his or her own inner world: First he learns the role that he has to play, and then he starts playing it. Why? A person creates his own inner image of the other person and studies how to interact with it correctly, learning to enter the reality of the other person.

To this end it is good to teach children the art of acting professionally. In our studies children are already playing these roles, trying to enter the characters of their friends. That way they start to understand each other better and become part of something common. The shared character of the whole group starts to live in every one of them.

Dr. Ulianov: Is it best for a child to act out the character of one of their friends specifically, or is it also possible to work with other images that are more removed from them?

Dr. Laitman: It’s necessary to work on all of the phenomena in the children’s field of vision.

The above points were taken from the book The Psychology of the Integral Society by Dr. Michael Laitman and Dr. Anatoly Ulianov. Also available as eBook (PDF, Kindle & ePub formats).

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Collective Games With Egoism

April 1, 2012 at 3:17 am · Filed under Education

Dr. Michael Laitman: Everything in the work of an actor is aimed at giving a person the ability to become included in others, to transcend his egoism. I play with my egoism in a way that I come out of it and enter an altruistic role, becoming it. In this role I feel other people, what they are truly like. I learn to connect with them. And all of this becomes possible thanks to me rising above myself.

One has to learn to play the roles of everyone, and then, as it is written, “Habit will become second nature.” Gradually, we will see how beneficial this is and will desire to be in this state, in the right communication.

Dr. Anatoly Ulianov: This exit from oneself is very clear to me. When it happens, the sensation is astounding. But what do you mean by “the right communication”?

Dr. Laitman: We have to discover our absolute connection. The laws of commutation in an integral system are very simple. Each of us has his own nature. And he has to create such a field of understanding around him that through it he will be able to connect with others. We all have to do it. To the extent that every person creates this shell around him, finding the widest contact with the people around him, he will become corrected and will operate properly.

The efficiency of every element in society is achieved when a person keeps only his basic, initial, fundamental quality, his “I.”

This initial quality we have is very small. All the other qualities in a person must be aimed only at enabling this “I” to connect with everyone else and work for the sake of others’ desires and qualities, for the purpose of building a connection with them. It’s like a mother goose that is surrounded by 15 goslings. She thinks and cares for each of them. The little geese walk in front of their mom, and she treads behind them. Each of them is in her field of vision, and she makes contact with all of them.

That is how a person should position himself in relation to the environment, understanding every person’s desires, aspirations, thoughts, and worries. He should help all of these people make their dreams come true. Like any well working mechanism, we can only operate when all of the parts are in total agreement.

The above points were taken from the book The Psychology of the Integral Society by Dr. Michael Laitman and Dr. Anatoly Ulianov. Also available as eBook (PDF, Kindle & ePub formats).

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