Performance Works: Telling Stories

New Definition of Tabula Rasa: The Body and Healing, by Rob Esposito  I have refined the three prerequisites for achieving thereceptive state of full artistic potential. This is a distillation andadaptation of the thinking of psychologist Carl Rogers (1902-1987), majorspokesman for “humanistic psychology.” His non-directive counseling, known as “person-centered therapy” was widely applied to education as “student-centered.” Many liberal artsinstitutions espouse this philosophy, The Evergreen State College more progressively than many others. It places trust in the student’s ability to self-direct, and to be authentic and responsible in the learning/teaching endeavor. Artistically applied, it’s a wonderful method for developing clarity of observation, motivation, and developing characters, statements, narratives, relationships, and situational/plot dynamics that “connect.”  1. Congruence

• a.    Authenticity, genuineness, real
• b.    Outer expression is consonant with inner feelings/intent
• c.    Doric, rather than Ionic or Corinthian, e.g.

 2)   Unconditional Positive Regard 

• a.    Non-judgmental, accepting, respectful
• b.    Neither good or bad
• c.    Active, open, listening, seeing, sensing, etc.

3)   Empathic Understanding  

• a.    Accurate, compassionate, being-with the other’smoment-to-moment reality.
• b.    Sense, feel, think, move with the other without becoming lostin the other
• c.    Allow “character” to sense, feel, think, and act on their own,i.e., to be congruent with his/her self.