Musicals

Many of my friends, past and present, have been devoted to Broadway musicals in the way that some are devoted to sports. Like those who are embroiled in batting averages and touchdowns, my friends are embroiled in songs and snappy one-liners. I have found life badly represented in both sports and musicals. So, I have observed both from a detached and rather objective viewpoint, I think. Sports are, in my opinion, the formulated acting out of our ancient rites of male competition for mating rights. I think they are sadly representative of our species' inability to move on from the caveman paradigm. Musicals, I think, are simplistic morality plays about love, hate and all the broad emotional and ethical issues which have strut across stages since before the ancient Greeks developed the amphitheater and ticket sales. The musical form is, in my opinion, a poor man's opera, where classical themes (from classical education) are replaced by John and Jane Doe's daily struggles and passions. Both sports and musicals can simply be fun. However, the amount of money, energy and devotion, the amount of human synaptic activity, devoted to both far outweighs what they bring back to the laboratory of human evolution. It is part of my practice to continue to experience sports, musicals, drama, opera and other things with a constant mindful eye to learn from them, but not to become embroiled in them. It is part of my practice to actively coexist with my own inner caveman. It is part of my practice to find my own song.