Lecture 27 — Gnosis and the Arts

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Podcast: 1 Hour, 33 Minutes, MP3 Format, Free Download When Anthony Hopkins played Hannibal Lector in the movie Silence of the Lambs he found himself delving into the dark side of life. How do actors do it? How do they come in contact with the boogie man? Is there some "secret" to the art of acting? In this podcast, Mr. E. Jim G. Ross reveals many of the secrets of Hollywood. Fledgling actors and actresses usually come from the school of Method Acting. However the best actors come from another school of acting called The Stanislavski Method. This school is not very well known in America, but is popular in Europe. What is the difference between Method Acting and The Stanislavski Method? According to Mr. Ross, in The Stanislavski Method actors are much deeper. He says, "Both are good, but the The Stanislavski Method is better." This is because the The Stanislavski Method is based on the Greek Theatre, which was where Shakespeare and others learned about a "secret door." This is the door that leads to sincerity and authenticity. Mr. Ross says that in the

Greek Theatre actors, at that time, told the truth to the audience. They "confessed their sins." The true purpose of the Greek Theater was to teach a lesson to the audience. Movies today do not teach any lessons. Most of them do not portray a bad guy and a hero; but only bad guys. There are no heroes any more. There are only bad guys

and “really bad,” bad guys.  The purpose of theater and also movie making should be to uplift the audience. There is no uplifting any more. Acting schools like Method Acting and The Stanislavski Method only go so far. Gnosis goes much further. To find out more, I invite you to listen to the podcast. Richard Roocroft November 2012 Further special lectures in this series can be found here

How do certain actors get to be so good? How do they capture the realism of their part?

Constantin Stanislavski was a key player in the development of “Method Acting.”