Someone recently commented to me that "the definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over, expecting different results." I suppose that would be true to someone who "beats his head against a wall." It could probably be said of someone who spends all his money on get rich quick schemes. However, isn't this also the definition of practise?
When I was taking piano lessons, I would have to play the same piece, sometimes just a particular musical phrase over and over trying to get it just right. In the meantime, my family was being driven mad! There was no changing Mozart or Chopin. The notes remained the same. It was how I was playing them that had to change. It was a matter of absolute timing, perfect fingering, the bridge of the hand, a lilt, or no lilt. I wasn't insane, just determined.
Whether a student in speech or drama class, or as an actor learning a part, repetiton, repetition, repetition learns the lines to say, the action or gesture to make on the line. The only person I have ever heard of who could skip the memorization element was Tallulah Bankhead. She never even looked at a script if she could get someone to read it to her. Two complete readings and she had every single one of her lines memorized. For the rest of us, it's a matter of delivering the speech until we can do so letter-perfect. Not insane, professional.
When we love someone, we may find ourselves performing some task repeatedly, with the silent hope of appreciation. Mothers especially do this for their children and perhaps even their husbands; the picking up after them, hanging or folding clothes to put them away, placing toys where they belong, making beds. Day in and day out, hoping that one day the people she lives with will catch on and do it for themselves. In lieu of that, a thank you would be nice. Insane? No, it's just what Moms and wives do.
People who pray, pray daily in one form or another. Sometimes they get the answer they want quickly; sometimes it takes a while. Sometimes the answer isn't the one they expected. They don't stop praying. The act of prayer, the quiet time of "be still and know I am god," gives them a connection to something bigger than themselves. It is the feeling of that connectedness that keeps them praying, not the results. I don't know of anyone who keeps a prayer score card. When they hit a quota of unanswered prayers, they don't throw hands in the air exclaiming, "This is insane! I'm not doing this anymore." Prayerfulness is a practise, like playing the piano, learning a speech or a part in a play. It provides a perspective and focus on the goodness around us. We are led to yet another activity, gratitude.
We make a practise of giving thanks to the Divine and to each other. The reason for this is twofold: the obvious is that every day, every hour, every moment there is something more requiring our gratitude; secondly, and most importantly, we give thanks over and over until we can do it sincerely and without expectation of receiving anything else. We humans have a tendency of doing/giving in order to get. We tithe, and expect to be blessed for it. We thank someone expecting to be thanked when we do something for them next time. Sometimes, people thank someone in a very public way, expecting the witnesses to hold them in high esteem. Developing sincere gratitude takes practise. It is a most worthwhile goal.
Legendary people get that way by practise. Other people give up. So who's insane?
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