Lost in the Funhouse_ The Life and Mind of Andy Kaufman - Bill Zehme [60]
I want you to know that in all seriousness I do plan to become a very accomplished performer. Ever since I was very small I’ve fantasized about it. Do you remember the “shows” I used to put on in my room? This is a very definite goal of mine. After all, look at the actual experience I’ve had: 12 years of entertaining at children’s parties. The first step, Grahm Junior College, is finished. I apologize for it taking so long and don’t blame you for being a little bothered about it. As far as procrastinating, you’re right. I’ve always been lazy and a procrastinator. My methods for attaining my goal might seem a little unusual to you. I consider myself an unusual performer. I must, if I am to make it. My next step (going to Majorca) may seem wrong, like another procrastination. Meditation has helped me a great deal. I am extremely pleased with it and sincerely feel that I would have not been able to do as well in my performing without it. The next step toward pursuing my goal is to go to this meditation course. Please rest assured that it is not another procrastination. It is an essential part of my career. One day, I shall be an extremely accomplished performer.
I must say, after our talk that night when you said that from graduation I’m on my own, I was left with a scary feeling. I guess it’s normal. However, there is a certain element of excitement also. I’m on my way (“I shall be heard”) and I welcome any suggestions that you might have. Thank you for everything.
Love, Andy
His Holiness sat before them and wore his robes and held his flower and regarded his flock knowing these were those who would go forth with his wisdom and bring others to him and to the light. They had been in this beautiful place across the sea for just over three months, learning together, plumbing their quiet spots for sustenance, searching for truths and asking questions at the microphone which recorded all of this advanced-training congress. And so it was on May 5 that the one who wished to eventually entertain in an extremely accomplished manner stepped forward to hemhaw and inquire about what it was that he would do in life and divine the spiritual methods and the meanings of what was to be. Because the Maharishi had never before been deposed on the workings of show business, his governors decided to take the resulting exchange and archive it under the heading of Maharishi on the Value of Entertainment—although the inquisitor would not be named in the records. Among TM scholars, however, the exchange would become minor legend precisely because of who it was that asked the questions. He began:
“Um … what is the value of entertainment? Is there a good value of entertainment—like comedy, tragedy, literature, television, and going to the movies and nightclubs? Also, if everybody was enlightened, would there be any need for entertainment?”
The holy one, ever mystical, thus somewhat inscrutable, replied that there would always be such a need in a changing world of relativity. Entertainment, he continued, should have an energizing value. Any entertainment that does not revitalize our mind and body, he said, is not entertainment. And anything that is derogatory to energy or intelligence or vitality, he also said, is not entertainment but something opposite. Maharishi went on to suggest that Knowers of Reality—his term for TM teachers—should also avoid keeping late hours in which to be entertained, since it may tire them and inhibit the experience of Being. Good night’s rest, very important.
The inquisitor then wondered whether people in an enlightened world could still go to movies and watch television and there is some beseeching and some desperation in his voice. The Maharishi replied