Mindfulness - Was William Shakespeare a Buddhist?

Marilyn Roxie, Flickr

Guest post by Shawn McKim

Mindfulness is a way of communicating.

I must come across as someone who either a) is mindful or b) is mindless. 

Either way, it would do me good to think about thinking, and then write about it.

So here I am, thinking about thinking. Actually, I’m procrastinating. But

I’m thinking about it. Does that count? Can mindfulness be an exercise in

stream-of-consciousness? Can it be a journal-style entry? Are there ever

any rules for writing about such a topic?

I thought about creating a character and revealing this character through

a monologue. The monologue would in turn reveal what the character was

thinking, since that is a monologue's primary function. But if you think

about it, it would really be about what I was thinking, since I created

the character and wrote every single word the character said/thought. This

had me thinking even deeper. Is Shakespeare all of his characters? Most of

them have monologues, which reveal their true intentions. Most of them

have deep thoughts that they would never admit to other characters. The

device becomes useful when the audience needs to know something about a

character that the playwright isn’t ready to reveal through action.

Shakespeare’s characters’ thoughts are really only his in part. I say this

because his characters represent all kinds of realms of the human psyche.

They represent greed, loneliness, jealousy, anger, love, passion, sanity,

and insanity, among other things. Is Shakespeare all of those things? Of

course he is. But not at the same time. That would be confusing. Like all

of us, Shakespeare suffered from the human condition, so therefore he

wrote about the human condition. And since this human condition is all

about feeling different things for different reasons; feeling confused;

feeling unbalanced... writing about it helps us make sense of it - both to

ourselves and to others.

So maybe that’s why I’m writing about this stuff. I’m suffering from the

human condition. I am everything and nothing at the same time. I am trying to make sense of everything and nothing by writing about it. I choose the

topic of mindfulness because it is bringing my thoughts to the forefront.

I am forced to deal with them straight on. There is no hiding whilst

writing. Naturally, my head turns to soliloquies, monologues, and

speeches. The literary way to express one’s feelings and thoughts. And who

wrote some of the most famous soliloquies? Shakespeare.

Upon my initial research, I am finding that most of Shakespeare’s famous

speeches involve the topic of mindfulness. Sometimes it isn't obvious but

sometimes it is. For example, in Macbeth the title character finds out his

wife has committed suicide. In response, he says to himself:

She should have died hereafter;

There would have been a time for such a word.

—To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,

Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,

To the last syllable of recorded time;

And all our yesterdays have lighted fools

The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!

Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player

That struts and frets his hour upon the stage

And then is heard no more. It is a tale

Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury

Signifying nothing.

Macbeth is thinking about life. But Shakespeare is thinking 

about thinking about life. I try to remind myself that these characters are not real. They are creations by an author. A real person. A real, thinking, feeling,

writing person, not unlike myself. Macbeth is just one of many extensions

of Shakespeare’s psyche. He has to be. Otherwise, where did these words

come from? In order for Macbeth to compare life to a walking shadow or a

frustrated actor, he would have to feel this way himself; at least

sometimes. Is Shakespeare always frustrated and concerned about life?

Perhaps not. Does he really feel like there is no use for anything? Maybe

sometimes. But not all the time, because Romeo was full of life and love

and hope:

Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven,

Having some business, do entreat her eyes

To twinkle in their spheres till they return.

What if her eyes were there, they in her head?

The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars,

As daylight doth a lamp. Her eyes in heaven

Would through the airy region stream so bright

That birds would sing and think it were not night.

See how she leans her cheek upon her hand

O that I were a glove upon that hand,

That I might touch that cheek!

Romeo barely knows this girl and yet he has fallen deeply in love. He is

comparing her eyes to the stars and is, for all intents and purposes, in

heaven just by looking at them.

Is this not Shakespeare as well? Remembering what it was like to fall in

love for the first time? How could he be both Macbeth and Romeo? They are

so conflicting in their worldviews. So conflicting in their attitudes.

Easy. Shakespeare, like all of us, is all kinds of things. He is greedy,

lonely, jealous, angry, loving, passionate, sane, and insane. It’s his job

to write about these feelings for his audience is all of us, and we are

all of these things as well.

Mindfulness is a way of communicating. Perhaps not in the traditional

sense of speaking aloud to another person. Conveying a message is not

always that simple or empirical. It can be as complex and deep as a

character in a play, soliloquizing about anything, everything, and

nothing, all at the same time.

Mindfulness this Week

If you would like to submit a piece on your mindfulness thoughts and processes, please address it to mleuxj at gmail dot com.

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