Into Me See

One of the wonderful and terrifying things about the craft of acting is the opportunity to experience a high level of emotional intimacy with someone who is essentially a complete stranger. When you see an amazing performance in which the actors have emotional experiences before your eyes, it is not because they are good fakers. It is because they (in the context of the scene) allowed themselves to be vulnerable with one another, to let each other in, and then an emotional experience occurs.

I say "wonderful" because it is so exciting to be part of a creative process that occurs when you allow someone to see into you and they in turn let you in. I say "terrifying" because it is very scary to let someone look into your soul. Most of us walk through life with carefully constructed walls. Only rarely and with select people do we allow the veil to drop and to be seen. It is a very tender thing. It makes sense to make sure that trust is established before allowing someone to see the depths of you.

When my acting coach talks about emotional intimacy, he calls it "into me see". I like that. We will never experience true intimacy in our relationships if we don't invite others to take a look inside. How deeply you let another person in is completely up to you.