ABSTRACT
Shame is at the core of every self-limitation, because it is essentially self-hatred, the perception of a total lack of self-worth. It is also instilled in us from birth as a means of familial and social control. As such, shame is necessary and useful in some instances. The individuals that comprise a culture are interdependent, so there must be some agreement as to what a threat to survival is and, as such, what will provoke disapproval. This agreement becomes internalized by the individual, and so transgressions trigger shame. The problem is that in most of our lives, both at large and within the context of our families of origin and even ancestry, the culture of shame has run amok. On the one hand, in our current cultural environment potentially ‘anyone’ can become a social media star. On the other hand, the prospect of being canceled has presented more of a creative deterrent to the nascent artist than ever before. A case study of how familial shame predisposed one playwright to enormous problems later in life is explored. Contemplative and somatic techniques including The Mezzanine and Shirzad Chamin’s Positive Intelligence methodology are presented as a means to recover from the effects of shame.
