Having determined to take one piece of guidance in my search for a way to bring my lightwork into my daily/work life, I continue to explore the topic. (1)
The piece of guidance I chose was: Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.
But I want to dial the lens back for a moment and look at something that the search brings up that I studied a long time ago: Erving Goffman’s dramaturgical analysis. (2) In other words, our lives as theatrical performances.
In my own words, not Goffman’s, we decide to play a role in our relationships and begin to draw to ourselves our favorite lines in playing the part. We make these over time into a “character.”
We generally have many characters. One for being at the beach, one for being in the office, one for being at the dinner table, etc. We talk about what’s “appropriate” for these settings, “in good taste,” and “fitting.”
We “put on our face” before entering a place. We “play our part” and “stay in character.” Afterwards, we endlessly engage in howdido? (How did I do?) conversations with our besties. Life becomes, as Goffman says, a performance.
If I suddenly stopped performing, I wouldn’t know what to say?
I imagine I’d listen a lot more.
Now how does that all relate to my one piece of guidance?
I have a new project and a new performance. It’s going to be called “Do Unto Others.” The script hasn’t been written yet … and maybe never will be. I’m going to learn it on the job and one step at a time.
I have a sneaking suspicion it won’t be the subject of “howdido” conversations…. Very little evidence or traces will be left…. Like truth, selflessness seems to be a trackless path.
Footnotes
(1) See
- “Daily Life as Spiritual Exercise,”
- “Sprint or Marathon?”
(2) See, for instance, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. New York: Doubleday, 1959.