The Parable of the Actor by Davin Dahlgren, June 1997 A certain man went to a movie. On the screen, he saw an actor which impressed him very much with the quality of his performance. The man was so impressed that he decided to go to the video store and find out if he could see that actor in any other films. The man was surprised and delighted to discover that the actor was in fact a very popular person and had made many many films which were all available on video. The man selected a few videos and proceeded to the counter to rent them. The clerk at the counter saw which videos he had chosen, and looked at the man with interest. "Are you a fan, too?" he asked. The man hesitated. "Well, I don't know exactly... I like this actor's work." The clerk pulled out a card. "Here. We have a fan club that gets together every Wednesday, and twice on Sunday. If you'd like to come, the address where we meet is there on the card." The man took his videos and went down to the bus stop to wait for a bus. Next to him, a woman waited also. She glanced over at the man and noticed the videos. "Hey! Wow! Are you a fan, too?" The man was a little surprised, but he asked the woman, "Are you in the fan club? That man in the video store just gave me this card..." He produced the card, and the woman's face wrinkled in disgust when she saw it. "Oh, no! You don't go to that fan club, do you?" she asked in shock. "No? Well good. You don't want to get involved with them. That fan club is not really devoted to the actor. All the literature they produce is just tabloid stuff. It full of lies about the actor." The man was confused. "Literature?" he asked. "Sure, you know! Magazines, books... stuff like that. We have the official biography of the actor right here." She dug into her things and pulled out a thick book. "It was written by a super-fan who watched all the actor's films and read all sorts of commentaries on the actor's life. He even quotes from the actor's autobiography! It really is well done." The woman gave the man the book as the bus stopped and opened its doors. The two got on the bus and found their seats. The man thumbed through the biography he had been given. A college student seated next to him saw the book and sneered, "You don't go in for all that actor stuff, do you? You know, it's all a bunch of hooey." "How so?" "Well, it's obvious, I mean... half the things in that book are so far-fetched. There's no way they really happened. It's just a gimmick to make money." "But that woman gave this to me for free..." the man protested. "Oh sure, they give those out free to get you to come to the meetings! Then they stick it to you. Asking for money, telling you the actor needs it to fund his latest movie. But it all goes to line the pockets of the fan club leaders, that's all. That, or they build bigger auditoriums to get more stoops like you to come and give 'em more money. It ain't worth it to give up your Sundays, man; just sleep in, relax, have fun. Don't waste your money. If that actor was half as good as people say he is, he wouldn't need people to collect money for him." The man was beginning to think that everyone in the world had heard about this actor, and he determined to find out more about him. But he soon learned that no one who claimed to know about the actor could tell him very much about him. They only wanted him to come to their fan club meetings. The biographies and literature that people gave him were all about the actor and had very good stories and were entertaining in themselves. But none of the authors of those pieces had ever met the actor personally, they only wrote things based on what other people had told them, and on what they imagined the actor must be like in person. The man began to be very frustrated. Everyone was telling him, "You can't meet the actor. He's very important and very busy. He doesn't have time to waste with the public. Anyway, we know all you need to know about him, just come to our fan club meetings and see." Even the fan clubs where the actor's autobiography itself was read were of little help. Different groups argued constantly about minor points regarding stories in the actor's past which were somewhat vague in the descriptions of them. The man often asked why they didn't just ask the actor himself to clarify his meaning, and was told that "We're in touch with his agent. His agent is working on it." This was the answer everywhere that the autobiography was studied. The man thought about the situation for a while. Perhaps he could contact the actor's agent himself and see what he could find out. Surely there could be no harm in that. The agent's number was listed in the autobiography, so he called. The agent was very pleased to hear from him. The man asked if he could ask a few questions about the actor. "Hang on, I'll patch you through..." the agent said. "Patch me through? To the actor? I didn't think that was possible." "Well, the actor is very willing to speak with anyone who calls." The agent answered. "How come no one at the fan club told me this?" the man asked. "Well, those people at the fan club only call when they want more buttons and bumper stickers. They never want to just chat with the actor. They seem to be pretty self-absorbed and only call when they want something," the agent sighed sadly. "But I can talk to the actor right now?" the man asked. "Yes, you can. I'll patch you through." The man spoke to the actor for quite a long time, and in the process learned what a really wonderful person the actor was. The man thought back to the things he had read about the actor. Some had been very close, but not quite right, and some had been completely wrong. He mentioned this, and the actor expressed his wish that more people would just call his agent and ask to speak to him. Everyone seemed far too content to know about him without actually bothering to get to know him. It really seemed to bother the actor and the man expressed his sorrow at this. The actor seemed to brighten up a bit and asked the man, "Hey, you want to visit my ranch?" The man excitedly said that he would. The actor laughed happily. "Excellent! My agent will set it up! See you soon, my friend!" [Return to Spiritual Studies]