What If All The World Is A Stage?

For those of you who are looking for new ways to create meaning and success in your lives, psychologist, Dr. Bill Crawford, offers this podcast which combines concepts from two artists from different worlds and times. William Shakespeare, of course, is famous for positing that, "All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players," which, while a much quoted perspective, and certainly one that is poetic, doesn't by itself necessarily help us create a meaningful life. Add to this, however, the concept that this "stage" is the setting for a play, and further, that a loving or benign presence might be the playwright (which is taken from present-day composer and lyricist, David Wilcox, and his composition, "Show the Way") and you get a very interesting perspective that I believe can be used to bring meaning to our lives, and allow us to become more influential in our daily experiences. "Show the Way" is a song from David Wilcox's album, "Big Horizon," and even though it was written over 15 years ago, it begins where many people find themselves today . . . speaking to what it's like to be frightened and having trouble holding on to hope. But then it goes on to speak of a higher purpose in the chorus when it says: It is Love who mixed the mortar And it’s Love who stacked these stones And it’s Love who set the stage here Though it looks like we’re alone. In this scene set in shadows Like the night is here to stay There is evil cast around us Not that there is evil all around us but that evil, or fear, or negative people and/or situations are cast around us . . . or that they "play a part" and are is there for a reason. There is evil cast around us But it’s Love that wrote the play… Why? For in this darkness, Love can show the way This means again, that fear and darkness are playing their roles, which are to allow love to show the way, or guide us in our journey. The image that comes to my mind here is a series of rooms that are brightly lit, but confusing in their layout so that we don't know which way to turn. Bringing a guiding light into this situation would serve no purpose because we wouldn't be able to see what it was showing us. However, if the rooms were dark the light could "show the way," which, of course, is the name of the song and the message David Wilcox is wanting to get across. In order to make this work, Dr. Crawford suggests that we start small and begin to see these daily situations as scenes in a play. There could be the traffic scene, the kids scene, the work scene, the stuck at the airport scene, the spouse and/or family scene. etc. And just as in a play, our job is to step on stage and define our character. What have we got to lose, other than a part that never fit us very well in the first place?

You can listen to What If All The World Is A Stage? online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

What If All The World Is A Stage? is an episode from Quotes from the Top of the Mind™ by Bill Crawford, Ph.D..

This episode is 11:23 long.

This episode was published on Mar 29, 2009.

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