The Color of Entertainment

“Fine art is something wonderful

that's left long into the future...

eternal beauty.” 

(Masashi Kishimoto)

Anna and I are season ticket holders for the DaysArts concert series, and as such enjoyed last week's Christine Tassan concert immensely. Over the years we have attended dozens of concerts, each invoking a buffet of emotions and thoughts. The Daysland Palace Theatre is but a drop in the bucket of humanity's endeavor to induce laughter, tears, and contemplation through the work of entertainers. 

“I would rather entertain, and hope that people learned something,

than educate people and hope they were entertained” 

(Walt Disney)

Many, perhaps most, of earth's cultures engage some form of entertainment in their communal life. From storytelling to cultural dance, drumming ceremonies to singing and playing instruments, humans, it would seem, need artistic expression. While some may argue that "entertainment" is a low-brow form of artistry, I seek to unpack the word in its finest form.

The Merriam Webster dictionary defines entertainment as, "amusement or diversion provided especially by performers." Herein is the prayerful, contemplative coloring of entertaining that has within it a healing quality for our world: entertainment diverts our attention. The power of distraction cannot be overstated - ask any parent of a two-year-old and they will vouch for this oft-employed child-rearing tool. 

When life becomes heavy, when grief weighs us down, when anxiety chokes out the sun, or when we are weary from the pace - we hunger for something that will give us reprieve. Prayer does this of course, as does the prayerful art of mindfulness. Case-in-point is the absolute attention to the moment that a musical performer, or an acrobat, or an athlete evokes when we are, for just a few heartbeats, lost in something other than life's demands.

“When mind-stuck,

entertain your heart.” 

(Toba Beta, Master of Stupidity)

Perhaps that sums up entertainment's power - it moves us into the heart, and out of the whirlpool of our thoughts. In the story of a live theatre performance, when your team has just scored, as the orchestra reaches a crescendo - our thoughts still, and the entire universe is contained in the focus of that moment.  The divorce, the death, the cutbacks, the terrorists... these fade into the background, and in that unfolding of eternity we can breathe. 

Is that not the quintessential work of Love - that it draws us into our heart, that it breathes us, even as we breathe it? Is it not in the Light of Love that we find rest and renewal, replenishment for the day. This may blossom in a myriad of ways, one of which is within the wonder and novelty of entertainment. Love gives strength for the journey; it draws us down into our roots, reminds us of who we are. Love births us anew into each dawn, sending us into the day to bring life and healing to all with whom we cross paths. 

Though perhaps not commonly understood as such, entertainers are spiritual directors who guide us to an eddy in the river's flow. With them we can put our paddle down, breathe deep, and release what we've been holding inside through the laughter and tears that their arts elicit. It is true that we must ultimately walk out of the theatre to enter again the river's cascading waters. We may, though, take with us the mindfulness, the prayerfulness in which the entertainer immersed us for a time. If we do so we will face life's challenges empowered and enlightened.

I leave the last word to the writer of Ecclesiastes:

"There is nothing better for a person

than that they should eat and drink

and find enjoyment in their toil."

(Ecc. 2.24)

The color of entertainment...

Eden's echo of garden playfulness.

The magician

opens the box

the maiden

has vanished

along with

our fears

and

longings

for a moment

we are

free

Be

free

in

Love

Breathe

Laugh

Pray

To Ponder Further:

- From the Bible: "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven... a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance."

- From Baha'i: "There must be reformation in the kingdom of the human spirit; otherwise, no result will be attained from betterment of the mere physical structure." (‘Abdu’l-Bahá, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 278) 

- Islam: "to Allah belongs the east and the west. So wherever you [might] turn, there is the Face of Allah." (Quran: Chapter (2) sūrat l-baqarah)