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Breaking The Fourth Wall Into Vulnerability
How long can you keep up the act?
In theatre, actors are often told not to break the ‘fourth wall’, or in other words, not to look the audience straight in the eyes, breaking the illusion of their role.
In life, we are often told to do pretty much the same thing.
When our personal fantasies are interrupted by reality, things can get messy and uncomfortable. That’s why the fourth wall is really convenient. It keeps the fantasy alive, allowing us to have a sense of control in a world that we ultimately have little control over.
We probably live a great portion of our adult lives keeping up this fourth wall. With masterful skill, we become great actors and separate from our audience by putting up a show.
But the separation comes at a cost. On our stage, we think we know what and whom we are deceiving. But it isn’t the audience really, to our surprise.
It is ourselves.
When we transport others into a controlled and alternative version of ourselves, we are really just lying to ourselves.
We are living for how we are seen, as opposed to living to be seen.
Being seen means being vulnerable. It means being exposed, with no power over how others perceive…
