A Repost of a Good Oldie.
I was reminded of this oldie through the W3 prompt of the
other day that asked, “What Amuses You?”
Today I want to ask, “What Are You?” as I narrate one of the few clown experiences
(in hindsight). Please enjoy.
Right answer: You are a seeing being.
The clowns I met under the big tops at circuses were entertaining, pure, and
wholesome— never scary. What fun that was! Their brilliant hilarity lives on in
my heart even today.
They catered to us kids, I’m sure. But they must have done something to adults,
for they laughed with just as much abandon as we kids did. That is art! Of course,
as a kid, I could only appreciate the hilarity.
Today, if I put those clown acts under analysis, I find life lessons…
“The medieval fool was continually reminding us of our mortality, our animal
nature, of how unreasonable and ridiculous and petty we can be.”
~ Andrew McConnell Stott, Dean of Undergraduate Education and English
professor at the University of Buffalo. Specializes in clowning culture.
Question: What are you? Right now? See the right answer above.
***
Let Me Take you To The Circus
Pretending reluctance, a clown appears from behind the curtains. A bucket dangles
on his arm, and in his back pocket, a big shovel. Do you see him? The stage is dark;
he seems confused, so he turns to the audience for instructions on where to go.
“Go that way, that way!” Voices of children, fingers pointing him in every direction,
tell him.
He nods and begins but walks in circles, still confused. Even before he stumbles over
his oversized shoes, that clown already has the children roaring with laughter. I love it.
After a few minutes more of audience interaction and together with a drumroll, a
circular light tumbles through the tiers of seats — just one light.
The clown sees it. The children and everyone else in the audience see it. Can you see
the children assume leaping positions trying to reach the light? It’s a beautiful
translucent light. Yes, a shiny object of desire. They all want to get that light.
How fun, right?
The light bounces around for a bit between the children, tempting them. It just about
slithers between their fingers; the children even open their mouths to try to grab a
bite at it in vain.
Finally, the light takes a long leap and quietly lands beside the clown.
The children stomp and clap loudly; some even send fists up in the air.
This is an accomplishment!
Sure enough, the clown looks into the audience for more instructions. This time
they tell him to scoop it up — the light, that is — and to put it in his bucket.
He nods with exaggeration. Indeed a light the size of a melon can fit in his bucket.
He gets to work. But the light, now thought of as a ball starts bouncing again — like
one of those crazy balls.
The clown runs, tumbles, and gets up — adds more antics but cannot catch up to the
bouncing light.
But without anyone noticing, the bouncing light gets a little bit bigger and bigger
every time. Oh, no! Now, that ball cannot fit inside the clown’s bucket.
It continues this way for a while until what started as a small bouncy ball explodes
into a giant bubble that covers the entire stage and bleeds out to engulf the audience.
The clown pumps out his chest, enthralled. The audience is captivated, and I, just
another kid in the crowd, am mesmerized. Are you?
***
The Lessons
What has happened here? Light is everywhere. That’s what happened!
The clown is a seeing being. The children and everyone in the audience are seeing
beings as well.
As seeing beings, we ARE that light. We carry it inside without recognizing that we are
that amazing. We spend our lives in darkness, sometimes chasing after shiny things like
validation, acceptance, trophies, followers, adulation, and light. We already carry an
abundance of light within us all along.
A beautiful, translucent light — a worthy light, a desirable light that illuminates — is
what we are.
And the energy that emits from our light can change perception. Allow it to stream out
of you, watch it bring forth someone else’s as that is what light does.
The love you brought when you came into this world is as pristine as it ever was.
Why have you forgotten? Why do you insist on blanketing it under pretenses and
stale bravadoes? Absolve yourself.
I see more lessons from the clown story, and I’m sure you can pluck one too.
No pressure, but perhaps you wish to share?
***
“…What are you?” How many have provoked this question? Not, “Who are you?” With
respect to name, origin, or ancestry, but “What are you? — what order of being do
you belong to, what species do you represent?” Not Caesar, certainly. Not Napoleon,
nor even Socrates. Only two, Jesus and Buddha himself, the answer he gave provided
a handle for his entire message.
“Are you a god?” they asked.
“No.”
“An angel?”
“No.”
“ A saint?”
“No.”
“Then what are you?”
Buddha answered, “I am awake.” His answer became his title, for this is what Buddha means.
… While the rest of the world was wrapped in the womb of sleep, dreaming a dream known as the waking life of mortal men, one man roused himself, shook off the daze; the doze, the dreamlike inchoateness of ordinary awareness. It begins with a man who woke up.” ~ Huston Smith, The Religions of Man.
We are light. We are love. We are seeing beings. Let’s all wake up to this reality.
…and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
“Send In The Clowns”
🎐🎐🎐
…this little light of mine,
I’m going to let it shine
let it shine, all the time, let it shine
Featured Image by Basil Smith from Pixabay,
Clowns Image: Openverse.
Thanks for reading.
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A profound poem Selma.
Thanks Sadje. Blessing you. 🤗
You’re always welcome
Beautiful reflections Selma 🤗
Thank you 🙏
I appreciate you reading and commenting, Maggie. Xo
My pleasure Selma xo
“this little light of mine,
I’m going to let it shine
let it shine, all the time, let it shine”! Lovely words written you. Love the poem. Nice video !
Happy you enjoyed it all. Blessings on your summer day. 🤗
powerful lesson. and I have always been afraid of clowns, though I know they have always had an important role in the world. your beautiful words have helped me to understand this. we all have a role. I love the ‘I am awake’ answer. says it all.
Beth. Thanks for the generous comment. All the role plays we experience and act out as role models. We are all ambassadors. Clowns teach lessons. It’s in scary movies that I don’t like clowns. I will not watch them. 😱
I am awake: happy you zoomed in that part. Bless you. 🤗🤡 🤗
One of my favorite songs, although I’m partial to the Judy Collins version. (K)
Isn’t it bliss to be partial to one or the other? This music is stellar. Thanks for the comment dear K. Blessing.
Very profound. I would add “I am Healing” because when you see you heal too. ” Maybe we should not look for the light at the end of the tunnel but the light inside ourselves” as one of my shirts says (https://the-bee-writes.teemill.com/product/the-light-inside-ourselves-shirt/)
Absolutely, Bee. The light that heals is within us. Thats what it’s all about. Thanks for joining in the conversation for this long essay. Bee cool. 😎
You, too, and happy Saturday 🤗
Thank you
This is a wonderful post, Selma! I enjoyed it very much.
This long one–aww, so sweet of you to read and find it wonderful. Thanks, you’ve made me feel all warm and cozy inside. Bless you.