Confronting The Unknown

Tonight, I auditioned for my school's musical. No legs were broken.

There's something irreplaceable in the experience of an audition. You're given a blank slate to fill with as much quality as you can for your director. This is especially exciting in cold readings, where you have little to no preconceived notions about the performance. You can be as big and as bold as you want! The limits are your imagination!

And yet, I keep myself to what is, in my opinion, a barely remarkable performance. One or two highlights, yes, but for the most part, it's rather dull when I assess myself after the fact. Why is this? Why don't I push the boundaries and surprise even myself?

To be honest, I'm probably being too harsh with myself. It wouldn't be the first time. But I'm convinced that's not the entire story. I think we all keep ourselves within our perceived boundaries because that's what we know. That's what we've been taught to stay in. That's what's safe to stay in.

For my Physics class, I had to read a piece by Richard Feynman called "The Uncertainty of Science". A brief summary would go something along the lines of this - Science is, in its very essence, a collection of very good guesses that we have an amount of confidence in. The refusal to accept that something might not be true will only confine yourself in a realm of non-discovery; that is, to a boring life without any new excitement.

While I don't completely agree with Feynman, I do believe that refusal to question an idea is a foolish idea. We need to question the idea that we can't sing. We need to question the idea that we can only be friends with people in our social circle. We need to question the idea that we can't confront our fears and the unknown to surprise even ourselves.

As I conclude, let me clarify one thing - There's nothing wrong with faith. Faith, after all, is being certain of the unseen. It doesn't mean you don't test and prove your faith; I would say an untested faith is a dangerous thing to have, actually.

So let me encourage you to confront your unknowns. It doesn't have to be a big unknown to start. But if you don't start, no one's going to do it for you.

Three random thoughts:
1. Oh man, that audition was fantastic. I'm really excited about this musical. For serious.
2. The second part of my DR trip recap is coming, honest! I'm just... Distracted at the moment.
3. This semester has been fantastic so far. I'm really really hoping it keeps getting better.