Personal Sense of Space

The predilection of an individual may be rooted mainly on how he was nurtured during
his formative years; however, in this case it cannot be assumed that individuals who grew up in
the same environment and who were nurtured in the same place and time would have the same
disposition in life. There are countless other factors which could affect the outlook and take of
distinct people on particular things.
Based on Space and Context by Yi-Fu Tuan, the concept of performance and space on the
point of view of infants is blurred and indefinite; since they still do not perform in time of their
heavy dependence. They are heavily reliant on the performances of the people around them
they are yet to create their own personality. When a certain collective subjectivity later on holds
an infant and wraps him into a shared ideology over the time of growing up, he also develops in
himself the idea of being him as an individual. He gets access on an identity that consciously or
unconsciously contextualizes his performances.
As people grow, their awareness or critical faculties find room to grow as well. However,
in the course of being socially conscious, sensitivities, as aforementioned, do not depend solely
on the ideology that one collectively shares with a group of people and holds as true. There
usually exist liberal points of view or an individual variation on the take of things since
individual biases do exist. The performances and the contextualization of these performances in
relation to space are ergo relative to individual and collective beliefs cultural ideologies.
As what I have understood from the readings, performances and the use of space can be
catered into two binary readings; (1) unrehearsed acts which are unconscious or acts performed

with the idea of having no present audience and; (2) rehearsed acts which are conscious and
performed in consideration of an audience.
First, I agree with Tuans idea that we consider a part of ourselves as audience to our own
performances. When we are alone, it does not mean that we are out of the stage and not
performing setting aside the idea that we might not be seeing someone who is watching us.
There are times when we wanted to look beautiful just for the sake of looking good across the
mirror. We rehearse before ourselves, based on what I can reason out, for the purpose of
gathering self confidence and appearing confident in our very own perspective; also, rehearsing
can make us feel positive about what others think about us. Personally, on the one hand I have
never experienced literally looking at my reflection and practicing what I would say to other
people, unlike what is shown in the media; however I am positive that the situation happens in
real life, if not very rare. As to me, I look at the mirror not to talk to myself, but only to check on
my face and clothes and do a run through of how I would smile, or even plan how I would
position my body if an unplanned photograph is taken these, I think should be the extreme
manifestations of my vanity; it embodies a silent performance.
On the other hand, I believe I have mastered the act of restricting myself against
unwanted movements during sleep. It has been four years since I started living in a dormitory
with different people having different personalities; and it is unlikely for me to sleep with such
abrupt movements that I used to have when I am at home. I have given myself the luxury of
utilizing to the maximum the space available in my own room, but I see to it that it should
behave properly when I am situated in places where specific considerations should be attended
during sleepovers or visitations in friends houses.

Another personal experience that many may have already experienced, as related to the
concept of space, is riding the Metro Rail Transit (MRT). People think that riding trains is the
more advantageous form of transportation as compared to the hassle of riding jeepneys and buses
and getting caught up in the traffic jam. However, on one angle, the MRT has this materialism
that distorts the concept and value of space, more specifically of personal space. In the context of
the MRT, not only in the train itself but including the terminals, people are forced to suspend
their sense of space, since it has become usual to be bumper to bumper with strangers some
are not very hygienic, temperamental, indecent, or vulgar. The country, in this case, is in dire
need of fast means of transportation which will come cheap. It is not everyday that one will wake
up and endure the rigid systems at stations, this is a social service and hence, must be given
proper attention.
On the other hand, in a context wherein the value of space is hung, performances are also
not restricted into certain frameworks such as what is right and what is wrong. In the Philippine
context, another situation would have to be with dealing with the bystander effect. If personal
space is threatened by a social responsibility at hand, such as helping others inside jeepneys
when the situation calls, the illusion that one need not assume responsibility goes with the
assumption of retaining personal space. This, however, contradicts with the learnt social
behaviour of being conscious in ones self presentation and thus, the urgency and power relations
over the determinants, personal space and self presentation, take place in the decision-making
process.
People are certainly not aware at all times on whether their actions are rehearsed or
unrehearsed. It is very unusual or rare at least, for individuals to always be aware of their
audience; it has been embedded in the mind set of people that their actions will have audience

and that those actions will reflect who they are, in the same way that it will accord to the
audience present in a particular time.