In intimate relationships, we all experience strong emotions, sudden reactions and pure passion. Sometimes, however, we get carried away. We lose our center and find ourselves utterly lost. We have moved from passion into drama.
But what is drama exactly?
The word drama comes from the Greek word for “acting,” “playing,” or “performing.” The meaning of the word itself offers the interesting suggestion that drama has to do with acting, with behaving as if we were in a theatre play rather than real life.
In a play, the characters are completely identified with their part. The cheating husband, the cruel seductress, the wronged victim—all of these are just roles and, when we watch a play, we don’t look any further than that.
In real life, however, identifying fully with the part we are playing in a certain emotional situation, forgetting that both we and our partners are much more than that, leads to drama.
Some misconceptions about drama.
There are a couple of interesting misconceptions about drama.
The first is that drama is more of a feminine thing. This is obviously not true; women and men alike get involved in drama. Perhaps, on a statistical level, men may burst into tears less often—but they do burst into uncontrolled anger. That is simply another way of moving into drama, and a pretty dangerous one.
“Crimes of passion,” an all too real tragedy, which causes death and suffering on a daily basis, should rather be called “crimes of drama.” Only someone who is fully identified with his or her own pain can consider resolving the situation through violence. If there weren’t such identification, no one would kill or hurt out of jealousy or other kinds of emotional setbacks
Read the full article on the Elephant Journal.
Image: Adam Purcell/Flickr // Jordan Chan/Flickr