Michael Chekhov Technique in the Twenty-First Century: New Pathways

by Tom Cornford

in relationship towards others in the world [. . .] and we can manifest that in different ways; as being-for-another, which perhaps suggests our most intimate relational state. This is usually a state manifest between therapist and client within a therapeutic alliance. This opens out into a more communal, and social sense of self, as being-for-others [. . .] and for me there is an additional potential state of being-for-all-others, which is perhaps an aspirational state of consciousness with a unified global and ethical attitude towards all beings. It’s an expansive position, and in Chekhovian terms could be considered as a psychophysical gesture towards the world as a totally inter-related, inter-dependent organism which includes all living organisms, but also could embrace so-called inanimate entities too. This can form a deeply integrative relational sense towards the world as a total holistic entity. This suggests to me a kind of Chekhovian consciousness that implicates a cognitive parity between the rational and imaginative faculties which can offer a vast landscape of meaningful narratives with which to engage and cohere around creatively as well as therapeutically.