Philosophy Is Great

I'm warming up to it a lot lately, and it ties together great with acting and theater as well. You most not forget that just living the life of a person who studies acting solely will greatly hinder the actor, he should strive to explore and learn of life in general as much as acting. More actually since life is infinitely wider field then specifically acting. 

I am reading Sophie's World which is a popular philosophy book for the beginners. And the author Jostein Gaarder writes down a bit about how Shakespeare contemplated life a lot (as we of course know), a little excerpt from said book;

"In As You Like It, he says:

All the world's a stage,

And all the men and women merely players,

They have their exits and their entrances;

And one man in his time plays many parts."

Again proving and showing the fact that acting should be exactly what everyday life is, no theatrical bollocks. Act the way human act.

Jostein then gives another quote, and it shows a bit how Shakespeare later in life might have become more dark towards the idea of life and stuff like that.

"And in Macbeth, he says:

Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player

That struts and frets his our upon the stage

And then is heard no more: it is a tale

Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,

Signifying nothing."

Great isn't it? Great insight into an author perhaps. A final quote that struck with me though was from a ancient chinese philosopher Chuang-tzu who famously said/wrote 

"Once I dreamed I was a butterfly, and now I no longer know whether I am Chuang-tzu who dreamed I was a butterfly, 

or whether I am a butterfly dreaming that I am Chuang-tzu"

Food for thought.