Universalis, your very own breviary in pixels...

Sunday 11 October 2015

Hugh Jackman, and Fulfilling the Plan God Has For You

 Parade Magazine had a generally interesting interview with Hugh Jackman, (the upcoming Pan movie looks terrific, but I'm very sorry about the whole white/persons of color casting dust-up.)
I think many people, when they get to do what they love to do, and get to do what they are good at, especially in either the arts or the kind of career where they serve others, whether it's medicine or military or food, - and, for that matter, in  relationships with others -  feel this same thing, both this joy inside themselves and the joy in something outside, and greater than themselves - and the Christian, and probably the devout of other faiths, know that that "something" is a Someone.
Fulfilling the plan God has had for you from the very beginning.

[Jackman:] Sometimes I feel more myself on a stage than I do off the stage.
          Why?
Onstage I feel an intimacy that feels natural, that’s transcendent. You’re beyond “Do people like me? How am I doing?” You get above that. I’ve very rarely experienced it in life, but onstage I experience it a lot. That’s what attracted me to it.
          Setting aside the money and fame you earn, what does acting give you that you really need?
That’s the best question I’ve ever been asked. Peace. There are things driving me that aren’t all healthy—[needing] approval and respect to fill some hole who-knows-where in me. Am I worthy? All those fears. Through acting, I’m able to find a level of bliss and peace and calm and joy. And it feels natural.
          Bliss, peace, transcendence: It sounds religious.
I’m a religious person. This is going to sound weird to you. In Chariots of Fire the runner Eric Liddell says, “When I run, I feel His pleasure.” And I feel that pleasure when I act and it’s going well, particularly onstage. I feel what everyone’s searching for, the feeling that unites us all. Call it “God.” Before I go onstage every night, I pause and dedicate the performance to God, in the sense of “Allow me to surrender.” When you allow yourself to surrender to the story, to the character, to the night, to the audience, transcendence happens. And when that happens, there is nothing like it on the planet. It’s the moment people experience when they fall in love, which is equally frightening and exciting. That’s what it feels like.”
Image result for ian charleson running  Image result for hugh jackman

No comments: