Glossary of Terms

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Glossary

  • Faustian Bargain - A deal in which one focuses on present gain without considering the long term consequences.

  • Finger Pointing to the Moon - "Truth has nothing to do with words. Truth can be likened to the bright moon in the sky. Words, in this case, can be likened to a finger. The finger can point to the moon's location. However, the finger is not the moon. To look at the moon, it is necessary to gaze beyond the finger, right?" - ― Hui-Neng

  • Flow - "Flow, also known colloquially as being 'in the zone', is the mental state of operation in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energised focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity. In essence, flow is characterised by complete absorption in what one does, and a resulting loss in one's sense of space and time." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology)

  • Four Stages of Competence - “In psychology, the four stages of competence, or the "conscious competence" learning model, relates to the psychological states involved in the process of progressing from incompetence to competence in a skill. The Four Stages of Learning provides a model for learning. It suggests that individuals are initially unaware of how little they know, or unconscious of their incompetence. As they recognise their incompetence, they consciously acquire a skill, then consciously use it. Eventually, the skill can be utilised without it being consciously thought through: the individual is said to have then acquired unconscious competence.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_stages_of_competence

  • Happy/Happiness - A deep sense of wellbeing and fulfilment distinct from the common western usage that tends to refer to merely obtaining or experiencing temporary sense pleasures.

  • Liberation - The potential to or experience of completely letting go of the habitual attachment to 'self', leading to the end of 'dukkha'.

  • The 'Literal' - A step in the Practical Aesthetics technique of script analysis that focuses on ascertaining what literally happens throughout the course of a scene in one simple sentence.  It involves no judgement or interpretation, just the bare facts and plot.

  • Magnetic North - The direction in which the north end of a compass needle or other freely suspended magnet will point in response to the earth's magnetic field. It deviates from true north over time and from place to place because the earth's magnetic poles are not fixed in relation to its axis. (Oxford American College Dictionary)

  • “Make the difficult simple, the simple habitual and the habitual beautiful.” - This is a reworked paraphrasing of an old Stanislavski quote - “Make the difficult habitual, the habitual easy, and the easy beautiful.”  This phrasing was conveyed to me through Andrea Moor, an acting teacher I trained with, in Brisbane, Australia.  It roughly conveys the following:

    • Make the difficult simple” - Simple but accurate scene analysis (taking the implicit and making it explicit)

    • “The simple habitual” - Rehearsing an 'action' until it becomes unconscious/implicit/embodied (making the explicit implicit)

    • “The habitual beautiful” - Let it go and focus on the moment to moment experience and impulse (let it go and rest in awareness)

  • Mindful Filter - The idea of filtering experience, techniques and learning through the conceptual lens or framework of mindfulness in order to ascertain if, how and why something is useful towards one's life and liberation (with regards to acting and otherwise)

  • Mindfulness - https://positivepsychologyprogram.com/what-is-mindfulness-definition/

  • Objective - Simply, what somebody wants, at any given point in time, consciously or unconsciously. Can vary in the contextual timeframe.

  • Obstacle - What is in the way of what somebody wants.  An action occurs in order to overcome various obstacles in order to achieve an objective.

  • Self: