Page 23 - The Irony Board

Into the Mind

Admission
To yourself
Is free when
Rehearsals
Are still on.

Here and elsewhere Gluckman uses the theatre as a metaphor of
more personal dramatic situations. “Admission” and “free” are the
double-duty words in this epigram. Its message is that self-
knowledge is greatest in times of indecision; once a choice is made,
rejected alternatives no longer pop into awareness.
This phenomenon may have no cause or function other than
self-protection, but its operational similarity to staging does extend
beyond the puns. Practice acting does not attempt to create the
suspension of disbelief necessary in an actual performance. In the
same way, uncommitted thought need not impose a single illusion of
reality upon the thinker.

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