Ivana Slavkovic

Institute for Psychodrama

General Spontaneity Theory

-Spontaneity as the primary force in human existence-

This chapter treats General Spontaneity Theory which deals with spontaneity as
the primary force in human functioning in terms of its definition, origin and
forms. Additional theoretical concepts of Jacob Moreno that are closely related
to the phenomenon of spontaneity will also be presented here: creativity, the
cultural conserve, the Godhead, the philosophy of the moment etc.

Definition
One of the difficulties in interpreting Moreno’s concept of Spontaneity lies in the
use of various terms when addressing and defining spontaneity. According to
Moreno “The term factor is used with some reservation. The term agent or unit
could have been used as well. But faculty, skill or function would connote too
specific a meaning.”(Moreno 1994 p.73, first edition 1946)
In majority of his writings Moreno used the general term “factor s” most
probably due to his orientation towards development of theory that would reach
beyond the fields of psychology and psychiatry and could address the issues of
human evolution and development of society.
Here, for the purpose of concretization and clarification of the phenomenon of
spontaneity besides the use of the general term factor the terms ability and
state will be used as well. The basis for the use of the term ability can be found
in one of Moreno’s definitions in which spontaneity is defined as: “…the ability of
the subject to meet each new situation with adequacy” (Moreno 1994 p.81, first
edition 1946)
According to Jonathan Fox (2008, p. XV) for Moreno spontaneity was a byword.
“We all have the capacity to act not only readily, but also appropriately, which
implies doing something new, better, more creative than ever before.”

Moreno’s definition of Spontaneity focuses on two elements: novelty and

response.
“Spontaneity propels the individual towards an adequate response to a new
situation or a new response to an old situation” (Moreno 1993 p. 12, first edition
1934)
From the moment of birth and throughout the whole life a human being
constantly faces new situations. Each and every new situation requires an
adequate response that would provide survival and enable growth. For instance,
immediately after the birth, an infant has to start food intake through sucking
and swallowing unlike at the times when he/she was fed passively through
mother’s placenta. In order to live the infant has to give an adequate and fast
response to this new situation of feeding.
Moreno emphasized that human beings were the least prepared to react to novel
situations due to the fact that human brain had been ill-equipped for surprise.
When they would be taken by surprise majority of people would act in frightened
way or would become astound. Consequently they would either produce no
response or their response to novel, surprising situation would be false. (Moreno
1994 p.47, first edition 1946)
According to Moreno spontaneity is the crucial factor or state of mind 1 that
determines the adequacy of a response to a novel situation and therefore it is
the primary force in human behaviour. He argued that from the point of view of

1
Kipper in „The Canon of Spontaneity-Creativity Revisited: The Effect of Empirical
Findings“ (2007) emphasizes that the Spontaneity is a state of mind or state of readiness
to act creatively which was repeated in all Moreno’s early definitions of Spontaneity. The
verb propels used in the above written definition indicates that Moreno understood
spontaneity as energy that propels the person to an appropriate and novel response. Later
on and from unknown reason, the definition of Spontaneity changed and the Spontaneity
was, according to Kipper, „mislabeled as a response, or an appropriate and novel
response to a new situation“.
phylogenesis of human species the level of spontaneity and the level of
development were diametrically opposed to each other. Moreno believed that
ancestors of modern humans had been loaded with spontaneity in order to
survive in the hostile environment. They were living in the nature over which
they could not exert almost any control. Their spontaneity was enabling them to
provide fast and adequate responses in order to supply themselves with food and
protect themselves from wild animals and climate conditions.
Thus, spontaneity enabled further human development which brought
possibilities of humans for more control over the nature and more predictability.
Humans acquired more knowledge and more skills for controlling their
environment and were increasingly relying on them. Consequently they gradually
started to lose the state of spontaneity that was once so crucial for their
survival. Not only that spontaneity has been decreased over the millenniums but
according to Moreno, humans even started to fear their own spontaneity as their
ancestors feared fire. (Moreno 1993, first edition 1934)
Even though the living conditions in western civilization are at large under the
men’s control the human existence is still highly unpredictable and relaying
exclusively on technological and cultural achievements does not always secure
it. Therefore spontaneity remains an important ability that may not only secure
the existence but may influence strongly the quality of life. For these reasons its
revival is the primary task of psychodrama.

Main functions of spontaneity

Prevalent use of the term spontaneity usually suggests that it is a sort of
unrestrained behaviour or phenomenon characterized with absence of control or
presence of impulsiveness thus, when used to describe human behaviour it might
be even confused with maladaptive functioning.
In opposite to this psychodrama theory addresses spontaneity as the ability that
is meritorious for structured and adequate performance of a person in terms of
thinking, feeling and behaviour in a given situation.
Thus, according to Moreno: “Spontaneity is a readiness of the subject to respond
as required…a preparation of the subject for free action...warming up to a
spontaneous state leads up to and is aimed at more or less highly – organized
patterns of conduct. Disorderly conduct and emotionalisms resulting from
impulsive action are far from being desiderata of spontaneity work. Instead, they
belong more in the realm of the pathology of spontaneity.“ (1994 p.111, first
edition 1946)
One of the main functions of spontaneity is its adaptive function. Moreno defined
it as plastic adaptation skill that results in mobility and flexibility of the self and
thus becoming indispensable to a rapidly growing organism in a quickly and
constantly changing environment. (Moreno 1994 p.93, first edition 1946)
The adaptive function of spontaneity should by no means be interpreted as
conformity. Spontaneity is always connected to the freedom of action 2 and thus
it represents far more than just a skill that helps individual fit into the
environment. Spontaneity has another essential quality – it is the catalyzer
necessary for emerging of human creativity and therefore it has crucial role in
creation of novelty.
Therefore Spontaneity should be understood in the frame of its dual function:
the plastic adaptation function evokes adequate responses of the self to novel
situations while its creative function is credited for “creating the self and an
adequate environment for it.” (Moreno 1994 p.101, first edition 1946)

Spontaneity as non-conserved psychic energy

Moreno defined spontaneity as non conservable psychic energy.

“The individual is not endowed with a reservoir of spontaneity, in the sense of a
given, stable volume of quantity. Spontaneity is (or is not) available in varying

2
The root of the word spontaneity is in the Latin word sponte meaning of
free will.
degrees of readiness, from zero to maximum, operating like a psychological
catalyzer” (Moreno 1994 p.85, first edition 1946)
Moreno opposed to the possibility of conservation of psychic energy (libido)
presented by Sigmund Freud and based in the first law of thermodynamics which
explains that energy can be transformed from one form to another but cannot be
created or destroyed (in a closed thermodynamic system). Freud’s concept of
libido assumes that libido is displaced if impulses do not find satisfaction. This
displacement can be done through sublimation (for example through creative
work) or through other defence mechanisms that may produce symptoms: “The
symptom was the result of a dammed up or strangulated affect. The patient
could not give vent to the affect because the situation in question made this
impossible, so that the idea was intentionally repressed from consciousness and
excluded from associative elaboration. As a result of this repression, the sum of
energy which could not be discharged took a wrong path to bodily innervations,
and thus produced the symptom. In other words, the symptom was the result of
a conversion of psychic energy into a physical manifestation, such as pain or
paralysis”. (Brill, 1938)
Unlike libido spontaneity cannot be addressed as a psychic energy that tends to
maintain its volume and achieve equilibrium. Spontaneity cannot be stored in a
reservoir, taken from it when necessary and spent in bigger or smaller amounts.
Neither can it be displaced elsewhere. Spontaneity is either available or not in a
given situation and it operates within the category of the moment.

Psychic Determinism and origins of spontaneity

The term determinism is used to describe antecedents which determine
consequents in one and only one way. In psychology a strong tendency towards
acquiring knowledge that is based only on observable things and events is still
present. This tendency is based in the philosophy of British Empiricism of 17 th
century, particularly in the works of F.Bacon, T.Hobs and J.Locke.
However, for theories of personality, normality and psychopathology the issue of
determinism is of the high importance since these theories try to identify and
explain determinants of human development, healthy functioning and
malfunctioning/pathology. The process of psychotherapy is strongly influenced
by those explanations since the psychotherapeutic treatment will differ greatly
depending on what factors are believed to determine human functioning:
biological factors, environment and learning or unconsciousness.

Sigmund Freud is known by his revolutionary idea that human behaviour and
overall functioning is determined by unconsciousness. According to J.F.Rychlak
(1981 pp.266-267) Freud could be considered as hard determinist for his belief
that there is no such a thing as psychic freedom. On the other hand Freud
believed that by understanding unconscious motivation one can gain some level
of freedom in behaviour, and in this terms Freud’s determinism could be also
considered as “soft”.
Moreno criticized Freud for his certainty in psychic determinism: “the desire to
find determinants for every experience and for these determinants further
determinants farther back, and for these determinants still more remote ones
and so forth, leads to an endless pursuit after causes.” (Moreno 1994 p.102, first
edition 1946)
In the same time, Moreno criticized the other extreme viewpoint on psychic
determinism, presented in the works of Bergson, existentialist philosopher by
whom Moreno was influenced in his young age: “The total denial of determinism
is just as sterile as its full acceptance. Whereas Freud’s psychic determinism did
not leave any room for the s factor, Bergson left, so to speak, so much room to
the creative that everything outside of it became a demonic distortion”. (Moreno
1994 p.103, first edition 1946)

The issue of psychic determinism has its importance for defining the origin of
spontaneity. Although Moreno did not reject the possibility that even some
special types of genes are responsible for development of spontaneity he never
firmly defined its determinants. (Moreno 1946: 51) According to Moreno: ” s
factor is neither strictly hereditary factor nor strictly environmental factor. It
seems to be more stimulating to the present state of biogenetic and social
research to assume that there is within the range of individual expression an
independent area between hereditary and environment, influenced but not
determined by hereditary (genes) and social forces (tele). The s factor would
have in this area its topographical location. It is an area of relative freedom and
independence from biological and social determinants an area in which new
combinatory acts and permutations, choices and decisions are formed, and from
which human inventiveness and creativity emerges. “ (Moreno 1994 p.51, first
edition 1946)
Even though there are no evidence to support the existence of some third entity
or space outside of heredity and environment that could be the source of human
spontaneity it is valuable to discuss impact that Moreno’s thoughts on the origin
of spontaneity and on psychic determinism had on psychodrama psychotherapy.

Traumatic experiences, extremely poor environment conditions or high risk

hereditary factors do not necessarily result in significant emotional/psychic
disorders. On the other hand it is not always possible to find significant
environmental or hereditary factors that could be considered as sources for
severe difficulties in one’s psychic and social functioning.
There were tries to address this paradox, such as the concept of psychological
resilience that was introduced in 1970’s 3 and which tried to give rationale for the
situations in which a person is able to adapt successfully to stress and to rebound
from extreme and often long lasting adversity becoming even strengthened and
more capable person.
Moreno’s approach to psychic determinism is helpful in addressing the above
motioned paradox. Even though the idea of some undefined source of
spontaneity that is independent from heredity and environment is not evidence

3
Emmy Werner was the one of the first American developmental
psychologists who studied psychological resiliencies of children exposed to
developmental risk factors
based it is beneficial for creating the picture of relatively free human being.
When this idea is applied to psychodrama practice it results in an approach to
client where therapist does not try to predict the course or the outcome of
psychotherapy greatly based on the client’s life history. To psychodramatic
approach chance for everyone to revitalize spontaneity and therefore acquire
better living is inherent, no matter how difficult the past of the person and/or
heredity had been. Understanding spontaneity as relatively fee from both the
environment and heredity assists psychodrama therapist to maintain optimism
and to trust into recovery and growth even of those whose lives were extremely
disadvantaged which is also favourable for installation of hope as an important
therapeutic factor necessary for initiating a client’s internal healing process.
The approach towards origins of spontaneity also prevents underestimation of
the possible outcomes of therapy based on the presence of severe risk factors
and assists therapist in using the therapeutic interventions appropriately.
In the same time psychodrama approach to psychic determinism indicates that
human being is only relatively free from the environmental and hereditary
factors. These factors can still significantly limit the freedom in human
functioning and can cause various kinds of psychic malfunctioning. Therefore
along with the search for resiliencies and efforts to revive spontaneity
therapeutic process in psychodrama requires in deep exploration and work
through different developmental obstacles, traumatic events and other various
harmful influences from the clients’ past in order to assist the client
comprehensively and to enable the client cope with difficulties and symptoms
that derived from those events and influences.
The psychodramatic approach towards determinism described above is called
functional operational determinism. Moreno coined this term to describe the
attempt of finding the middle way between the extremes: the ideas of total
psychic freedom and the ideas of absolute psychic determinism.
“According to this theory there can be, in the development of a person, original
moments, truly creative and decisive beginnings without any horror vacui 4, that
is, a fear that there is no comfortable past behind it from which it spring.“
(Moreno 1946, p.103) On the other hand “It is not necessary, indeed it is
undesirable to give every moment in the development of a person the credit of
spontaneity” (Moreno 1946, p 103)

To conclude, functional operational determinism enables psychodrama to have

an integrative approach to treatment – on the one hand the treatment is focused
on present experiences and activation of spontaneity and strengths and of a
client (horizontal level) and the other hand it is focused on understanding how
past experiences and hereditary factors contributed to present functioning
(behaviour, feelings, thinking, interpersonal relations etc.) of a client (vertical
level).

Forms/expressions of spontaneity
Moreno differentiated “four characteristic expressions of spontaneity as
relatively independent forms of a general s factor.” (Moreno 1994 p.89, first
edition 1946)
Those are:
a) the spontaneity which goes into the activation of cultural conserves and
social
stereotypes
b) the spontaneity which goes into creating new organisms, new forms of art,
and
new patterns of environment.
4
“Horror vacui“ is a theory first proposed by Aristotle saying that nature abhors a vacuum,
and therefore empty space would always be trying to suck in gas or liquids to avoid being
empty. Using this term Moreno wants to emphasize that there may be a vacuum present in
terms of positive sources of spontaneity and creativity in the past life of an individual but
that the absence of positive sources does not necessarily result in the absence of
individual’s creativity. This statement strongly reflects his understanding of determinism
as relative.
c) the spontaneity which goes into the formation of free expressions of
personality
d) the spontaneity which goes into the formation of adequate responses to
novel situations

Dramatic quality
The first form of expression of the spontaneity has “dramatic quality of
response” which means that it gives newness to behaviours, feelings and verbal
expressions that are “repetitions of what an individual has experienced a
thousand times before” (Moreno 1994 p.89, first edition 1946) This form of
spontaneity makes it possible for people to add some freshness and vitality to
very ordinary daily activities so that they do not experience them as being
monotonous and lifeless in spite of the fact that they are not original or new.
Moreno argued that dramatic quality of response “is energizing and unifying the
self” and that “it makes dissociated and automaton like acts be felt and look like
true self-expressions.” (Moreno 1994 p.90, first edition 1946)
This form of expression of spontaneity will be discussed further in the part of
this chapter that addresses the concept of the cultural conserve.

Creative quality
The second form of expression of spontaneity is the one that initiates creativity
and enables a creative and new response. This is the creative quality of
spontaneity. An idealized picture of a person that possesses this kind of
spontaneity is: a person whose mind is “full of creative seeds always in the
temper of braking up existing conserves and germinating new forms, new ideas,
and new inventions. (Moreno 1946)”. The creative quality of spontaneity enables
the use of personal capacities such as intelligence, memory or skill at their
maximum. A person endowed with this form of spontaneity may go beyond in
performance in comparison to a person that possesses similar or more capacities
but lacks the creative quality of spontaneity.
Moreno (1994, first edition 1946) argued that spontaneity was the crucial factor
for emergence of genius. He believed that the genius might be hidden in many
people even through it’s not being actualized often. What differentiate geniuses
from ordinary people are not their creative ideas, motivation, intelligence or
skills but their high level of spontaneity that enables the maximum use of their
resources. (p.91)

Quality of originality
The third form of expression of spontaneity has a quality of originality and
facilitates the free expression of personality. This form presents expressions that
are unique variations of the cultural conserves but it does not reach the level of
creativity, as something new. The example of this form of spontaneity are
children’s spontaneous drawings and adolescents’ poetry that contain original
expressions of children and adolescents “who add something to the original form
without changing its essence.” (Moreno, 1994, p.92, first edition 1946)

The form that goes into formation of adequate response

The fourth form of spontaneity is the one that enables an individual to come up
with adequate responses to novel situations.
According to Moreno (1994, first edition 1946) there may be three possible
responses an individual can demonstrate in a novel situation:

a) No response in a situation
b) An old response to a new situation
c) New response to a new situation (p.92)

In the first case an individual has no response to a new situation which shows the
absence of s factor within the individual. According to Moreno (1994, first
edition 1946), some of the reasons for absence of the response may be: the
inability of an individual to recognize the novel situation, the threat this
situation can have for her/his existence, the fear that the new situation may
destroy some of his/her values. An individual may also be unable to produce the
response in an old (repetitive) situation due to giving up the old response
without creating the new one. (para.92)

In the second case an individual offers the old response to a new situation.
For instance, a person that is transferred to the position at work that requires
decision making waits for the others to make decision and remains withdrawn as
he/she was while holding the old less responsible position at work. Giving the old
response to a new situation represents repetition of patterns that may have been
adequate in previous situations but are not satisfactory for the new one.

In the third case an individual produces a new response to a new situation based
on the presence of spontaneity that subsequently makes the other necessary
personal capacities such as intelligence, perception and memory highly available
and useful. The essential value of the new response is not based in novelty itself
but in its adequacy in a given situation.

Although the focus of discussion about response was on the response to a new or
unexpected situation, the response to an old situation is evenly important. New
responses are not only needed in novel situations but also in repeating ones in
which the old responses were not effective and constructive for an individual.
Psychodrama therapy focuses on enabling clients to increase their spontaneity
and creativity in order to respond differently to old situations in which they have
been producing unconstructive responses such as responding to authority with
anxiety and withdrawal, or responding to rejection with aggression etc. Thus,
one of the main aims of the psychodrama procedures is to assist client in
creating the new and more adequate responses, such as in previous examples:
self-confidence instead of anxiety and assertiveness instead of aggression.

In addition, “Spontaneity can be present in a person when he is thinking just as

well as when he is feeling, when he is at rest just as well as when he is in action”
(Moreno 1994 p.112, first edition 1946). In the same way response has the wider
meaning that includes subjective experiences that cannot be observed or
measured through the senses in the way that behaviour, as something visible, is
observed and measured by natural science. Thus, psychodramatic understanding
of response includes both body and mind; thoughts, feelings and movement; it is
the expression of the whole person regardless if it is visible and measurable or
not.
As mentioned earlier, the crucial value of the new response (regardless if it is a
new response towards a new situation or a new response towards an old situation
or if it is at observable behavioural level or internal emotional/cognitive level) is
not in its novelty or even originality but in its adequacy.

Adequacy of response
Defining the adequacy of response could become difficult task if it would be
misinterpret as merely normal behaviour or a kind of socially expected and
stereotyped reaction in which case it would require entering into the field of
definitions of normality.

According to Kellermann (1992) the definition of spontaneity as the state that

propels towards adequate response to a new situation or a new response to an
old situation is “clearly behaviouristic and emphasizes normal, adequate, and
optimally adaptive behavior” (p. 38). However, this perspective on adequacy of
response would be factual if spontaneity was taken out of the wider context of
Moreno’s spontaneity theory where spontaneity was presented as existential
phenomenon that is experienced by a subject as his/her autonomous state free
from external and internal influences and having the characteristics of a freely
produced experience. (Moreno, 1994, para 81, first edition 1946). Thus,
adequacy of response in spontaneity theory is closely connected with
authenticity in expression of a personality and to a freedom of person to express
and act.
However, Kellermann (1992) partially renounced his previous behaviouristic
viewpoint on spontaneity by pointing out that: “the image and ideal of the
person in psychodrama is explicitly humanistic, viewing human beings as
intentional and authentic, striving for genuine expression from within” (p.38)

Zerka Teoman Moreno (2000, p.111) argued that understanding the adequacy of
a response as a way of adapting to a situation by taking into social norms would
make spontaneity and conformity become the same (para 111). Instead, she
pointed out that the adequacy in Morenian understanding included the ability of
the person to act from a kind of transcendent point which is based in subject’s
spontaneity. The adequacy of response is not about response being right or
wrong. Instead, adequacy refers to possessing the ability of thinking and acting
reasonably by taking into account one’s own point of view as well as that of
surroundings. (Moreno Toeman Moreno, 2000, para.112). For Moreno adequacy
did not mean a standard response but the response that is integrative for all
concerned “even if that meant sometimes upsetting the partner in the
interactive role at first, eventually leading to new and important learning.”
(Moreno Toeman, 2000, p.XVII)

Moreno did not fully elaborate the issue of adequacy of response but he
formulated the main prerequisites for achieving it. Those are: “a sense of
timing, an imagination for appropriateness, an originality in self-propelling in
emergencies...”(Moreno, 1994, p.93, first edition 1946). These prerequisites are
essentially based in spontaneity that becomes the most important factor for
choosing the most appropriate response of individual when he/she is faced with
a novel situation. When a person is faced with the novel situation he has to use
spontaneity as a “guide or searchlight, prompting him as to which emotions,
thoughts and actions are most appropriate.” (Moreno 1993, first edition 1934
p.39)
According to Zerka Toeman Moreno (2000) “Spontaneity involves tele 5 and
reflection and it also gives a person a feeling that s/he is free to act according to
the situation. S/he is not encountering the situation with anxiety but with the
feeling of being capable of mastering it”. (p.12)

Spontaneity and the philosophy of the Moment

The here and now principle is one of the cornerstones of psychodrama and
integral part of the theory of spontaneity. According to Moreno a theory of the
moment was indissoluble for a theory of spontaneity due to the fact that
spontaneity operates in the moment; it is either present in the moment or not
( 1994, p.104, first edition 1946),
Since spontaneity is the central force that determines overall human functioning
the category of the moment in which spontaneity operates thus becomes the
critical time dimension on all levels of human functioning: thinking, feeling and
behaviour.
Moment is a brief transitory point in between past and future and sometimes it is
hard to observe it and to define it.
According to Moreno (1994, first edition 1946) the moment can be experienced if
the following circumstances are fulfilled: a) A change must take place in the
situation; b) the change must be sufficient for the experience of novelty to be
perceived by a subject; c) this perception involves activity from the side of the
subject, an act of warming up to a spontaneous state. (p.104)
The theory of the moment has its practical application in psychodramatic
procedure since psychodrama happens in the here and now. First, the focus is on
the present feelings, thoughts and behaviour of a client in the group as well as
on the group dynamics in the here and know of the group. Secondly the
psychodrama action takes place on the stage in the present moment where not
only present but also past or future experiences and events are being re-enacted
as if they are taking place in the “here and now”. This re-enactment in the

5
Two way relationship characterised by mutual empathy, realistic insight into the other and equality
“here and now” is possible due to the operation of the “as-if” factor or
phenomenon of “surplus reality” at the psychodrama stage.
This phenomenon will be discussed more in deep later. In short, every scene that
is acted on the stage is happening in the here and now of an “as if” reality.
Example:
Maria, 35 years old enacted the scene that happened when she was seven:
Maria’s parents leave her alone at the home and they lock the front door of the
apartment. She wakes up, understands that she is alone, tries to open the front
door but without success. She gets scared and starts panicking. She is hitting the
door with her hands and calling for help. Her face is all in tears. When parents
are back Maria does not communicate her feelings, she is numb and fallen into
despair.

In this example, the past scene is re-enacted in the here and now. The whole
event is taking place in the here and now of the psychodramatic stage where
Maria, the protagonist, feels fear, panic and sadness in the present moment as if
she is seven years old. She is not only remembering the past or retelling it but
thanks to the regression (in the function of ego) she is experiencing the past in
the present.
Therapist conducts different intervention and the scene ends by Maria, at the
age of 7, telling her parents about her desperation, fear and anger for being left
alone – feelings and thoughts she could have never expressed before.
Due to psychodrama interventions the protagonist’s spontaneity raises and
enables the new response in the old situation re-enacted in the “here and now”
of psychodrama action. This new response of the protagonist Maria based on her
increased spontaneity includes her ability of communicating feelings and
protecting herself. This response has much higher level of adequacy in the
situation compared to her previous response in the past which was characterized
by falling into helplessness and despair.
Enacting the scenes in the “here and now” within surplus reality represent the
fundamental procedure of any psychodrama enactment. This fundamental
procedure is based on the fact that enactment of scene in psychodrama is not
merely repetition of the past event or simply an imitation (mimesis). Thanks to
as-if factor the feelings, thoughts and behaviours in the scene become real for
the protagonist and belonging to the present moment. They can never be
repeated in the exactly same way or copied again.
According to Moreno (1994, p. 67), Eva Roine (1997, p. 65) and other
psychodrama authors, time in psychodrama is three-dimensional, existing
simultaneously within an individual as the past, present and future. Thus, the
here and now reflects the past and determines the future.
“This is why it is important to be able to look at one’s whole life, but not in
chronological order or by reliving it systematically. Time is an incessant moment
back and forth from the past to the future, with the present as the dramatic
point of intersection.” (Roine, 1997, p.65)
As mentioned earlier, time in psychodrama is understood as internal category
and not as external category in which time is objectively divided in minutes,
hours, days, months and so on. Internal time is often not in tune with objective,
external time. Psychodrama follows this internal time of the protagonist since it
makes more sense in his/her intra-psychic life. Therefore protagonist in
psychodrama enactment is freed from objective boundaries of time and
protagonist can during psychodrama enactment move through his/her internal
time dimension without limits – at the time before birth or the time after death,
from the time of childhood to the time of the old age etc.
Still, everything that happens during protagonist’s movement through her/his
own time dimension- feelings, thoughts, actions- belong to the “here and now”
and they are the subjects of psychodramatic interventions.
Another important category related to the category of the moment and
spontaneity which operates in the moment is the “moment of surprise” 6.
As mentioned before Moreno stressed that:” …there is nothing for which human
beings are more ill-prepared and human brain more ill-equipped than for
surprise” (Moreno, 1994, p. 47, first edition 1946).
According to Zerka Toeman Moreno (2000) there are two opposing ways of
encountering surprises: one is anxiety and the other is joy (para.12). The
moments of surprise that makes a subject insecure and evokes anxiety can be
faced appropriately only if spontaneity is available. Spontaneity reduces anxiety
and vice versa. If spontaneity is present in the moment of surprise transition can
take place and people do not get stuck. “The moment of surprise can lead to a
transition from one state to another. However, very often the first response is
shock. And if you do not master spontaneity to overcome the shock, you are
stuck.” (Moreno Toeman, 2000, p.12)
For psychodrama the moment of surprise has a therapeutic potential because it
may lead to a change if accompanied by spontaneity. Therefore psychodrama
therapist may direct the action on the stage so that it brings a certain level of
surprise to a client helping him to step out of the usual patterns of behaviour or
cognitive and emotional schemas. Such a moment of surprise on the stage can
take place in many different forms but in all cases it is necessary that the client
can approach it without an overwhelming anxiety so that he/she can use it for
generating insight.
For instance, in the psychodrama work of Emma where she explored two
different approaches to life that were presented by auxiliary egos (other group
members playing important roles for the client), the therapist instructed the
auxiliary egos that were representing life pleasure and joy to leave the stage
unexpectedly. For a second, Emma was caught in the moment of surprise since
she was left on the stage only with the difficult feelings and hard tasks that she
portrayed previously on the stage by employing auxiliaries for those roles. At
6
Surrealistic philosophers and especially philosopher Andre Breton were paying attention
to the “moment of surprise”- the moment in which people are faced with the unknown.
Surrealists emphasised the creative potential of the “moment of surprise”.
that moment she reported that she had felt strong pain in her chest while
looking at representation of her life on the stage. After a few moments she
added that this new and unexpected representation of her life was actually
accurate. Emma had been constantly involving herself in difficulties and she was
finding it almost impossible to experience joy and leisure even when she would
consciously try to engage herself in pleasurable activities. This insight that was
evoked by creation of the moment of surprise by the therapist’s intervention on
the stage led psychodrama work towards a fruitful exploration of the factors that
determined Emma’s choices to give up joy in life and brought her closer to
introducing alternatives in her approach to herself.

According to Kipper (1986, pp.188-89) the inclusion of all three time dimensions
within the psychodrama action represent the existentialistic view.
“The existentialists propose a different view. They maintain that the future and
the past meet in the present to form the moment of action. Therefore, the
present time dimension must be regarded as the moment of action. Therefore,
the present time dimension must be regarded as the focal point of attention.”
At last, psychodrama techniques can be used to address different time
dimensions. The role playing and role reversal, when used in regression, aim to
explore the past, the future projection technique is used to explore the future
while role play, role reversal, double, mirroring are used to focus on present. All
of psychodrama techniques and intervention are used with the goal to increase
the presence of spontaneity in the moment of psychodrama action and assist a
client to produce responses that are more adequate to the situations the client is
re/experiences on the stage. Consequently the client may have more spontaneity
available in everyday life that will result in more adequate responses to
numerous life situations.
The following to be discussed are the concepts of cultural conserve, creativity,
warming up and God head as integral parts of general spontaneity theory.

The Cultural conserve

 Blatner (2000), reported that Moreno had believed that individual and social
psychology were inseparable hence not only an individual but also the cultural
matrix needed to be the aim of the healing intervention especially due to the
fact that cultural matrix often possessed pathological feature. (para.77)
The inseparability of social and individual psychology in spontaneity theory is
evident in the concept of cultural conserve.
“A cultural conserve is the matrix, technological or otherwise, into which a
creative idea is placed for preservation and repetition”. (Moreno, 1946, p.123).
In view of that this term coined by Moreno refers to an end product of
spontaneous creative process such as writing system, book, painting, symphony,
poem, technological inventions (technological conserve), pattern of behaviour,
religious belief, social norm etc, (human conserve 7).
“It is a successful mixture of spontaneous and creative material molded into a
permanent form. As such it becomes the property of the general public-
something which everyone can share. Due to its permanent form it is a rallying-
point to which one can return at will and upon which cultural tradition can be
based. The cultural conserve is thus a consoling and reassuring category.”
(Moreno, 1994, pp. 107-108, first edition 1946)
Thus, cultural conserve has its initial stage in the spontaneous creative process
and it represents its end product that is purified from the creative process that
leads to its formation. For instance, Moreno (1994) used the example of
Beethoven’s ninth Symphony to describe this purification from the spontaneous
creative process saying that the symphony itself as a cultural conserve does not
contain the whole creative process that was going on in the Beethoven’s mind
while he was creating it.
As the end products of spontaneous creative process cultural conserves represent
achievements of our civilization in which spontaneous and creative energy was
invested in order to gain control over nature, assure development and introduce
order and security in unpredictable and changing environment. It would be

7
Moreno differentiated (1946, p.123) two forms of the cultural conserve: technological
and “human” conserve.
impossible to imagine the world without cultural conserves such as social norms,
patterns of behaviour, science or art. In such a world every day would be a new
try in mastering nature and society. It would be the world without any
knowledge preserved. Therefore cultural conserves are positive phenomena and
as such they have “two purposes: they were of assistance in threatening
situations and they made secure the continuity of a cultural heritage”. (Moreno,
1994, p. 108, first edition 1946)

Although cultural conserves have been securing the development of our

civilization they also can have the negative impact on it. The more developed
and distributed the cultural conserves are the more they become the rigid rules
or sacred values that are not questioned any more but followed automatically.
The simple example can be found in the patriarchal cultural conserves that
contain frozen patterns of behaviour and norms such as: gender roles where man
makes all important decisions and woman’s main role is to look after the
children. For centuries the above mentioned cultural conserves were not re-
evaluated or challenged.
Moreno noticed that value systems favour end products over the unfinished
processes. “The cultural conserve aims at being the finished product and, as
such, has assumed an almost sacred quality…Processes brought to an end, act
finished and works perfected seem to have satisfied our theory of values better
than processes and things which remain unfinished and in an imperfect state”
(Moreno, 1994, p. 108, first edition 1946)
Blatner (2000) pointed out that the concept of cultural is helpful in making
difference between the end product of creativity and the process and that it may
also be a reminder of how important is to attend the process (para.75).
It is important to note that big part of psychotherapeutic process is about
identifying, understanding and following of different processes that occur within
a client, in relationship with therapist and/or among group members and
assisting the client in making those processes conscious. In modern societies that
greatly value material success and high performance at any given time a client
may expect that the course of psychotherapy will finish up in an end product: a
cultural conserve of perfectly healthy and successful functioning. It is important
task of psychodramatist to challenge this idealized picture of human existence
and narcissistic expectations from the results of psychotherapy throughout all
the phases of psychotherapeutic process.

Cultural conserve loses its spontaneous component during the time although “it
owed its very birth to the operation of spontaneous processes” (Moreno, 1994, p.
108, first edition 1946)
Therefore, cultural conserves can maintain their positive function only if
individuals and societies reconsider them and approach them with new
spontaneity. Otherwise they become a “threat of man’s creative patterns”
(Moreno, 1994, p. 108, first edition 1946)
In line with Moreno’s early writings Blatner (2000), pointed out that cultural
conserves taken as dogmas could negatively affect not only society but personal
and family functioning. “Throughout culture, and prevalent in personal and
family dysfunctions, however, what can be discerned is the operation of the
tendency to irrationally cling to what has been created, to rely on traditional or
established rules as if they had unquestioned authority, to lapse into fixed or
rigid habits of belief and thought.” (p.75)
The central point in understanding the concept or cultural conserve is dual
nature of cultural conserve, its positive and negative side. Zerka Moreno (2000),
describes it as following:
“The cultural conserve as Moreno saw it is the end product of spontaneity and
creativity. It is really taking a moment and freezing it in time. And to unfreeze
the moment, you go back to the source, which is spontaneity and creativity. So it
is both, the product and the beginning of something new, swinging back and
forth like a pendulum… If it encouraged new spontaneity and creativity, then it
became like a well that does not dry up. However, if it prevents spontaneity and
creativity, then it is negative and you become blocked.” (p.9)
For instance, in performing arts Mozart’s concert for piano is an exceptional
example of cultural conserve which a pianist has to approach with creativity and
spontaneity in order to keep its creative value, and as such this cultural conserve
may encourage new spontaneity and creativity of a performer.

When person is dominantly leaning on cultural conserves they are “securing for
him the preservation and the continuity of his ego” which is functional in a still
world. But, when the world starts to change or when the “quality of change is
becoming more and more a permanent characteristic of the world in which he
participates what is he to do then?” –Moreno asked. (1994, first edition, p. 106)

In everyday life it is essential to approach cultural conserves with spontaneity in

order to address authentic needs, express personality freely as well as deal with
monotony and boredom. The spontaneity that is used to approach cultural
conserves belongs to the previously described form of spontaneity which has
“dramatic quality” (Moreno, 1994, first edition 1946). It means that the one tries
to bring something new in existing habits, attitudes and patterns of behaviour.
For instance, the one approaches one’s job with bringing new perspective to its
meaning and new ways in conducting one’s usual tasks, or that one tries to bring
something new in the common ways of celebrating holidays. On the other hand
it is also necessary to continuously challenge or even abandon certain cultural
conserves so that traditional sets of thinking, feeling and behaviour do not need
to be necessarily taken for granted.

Within therapeutic work in psychodrama it is very useful to concentrate on “the

personal cultural conserves” defined by Dayton (2005), as “conserved set of
thinking, feeling and behavior that drives our individual lives (p.67).”
In group psychodrama situation clients demonstrate many different sorts of these
conserved patterns of thinking, feeling, behaviours and beliefs. Dayton (2005),
suggested that those repeated patterns should be re-examined within the
following procedure: 1) look into where and how this pattern may have begun,
2)understand the relational context in which it got set up in the first place 3)
look at the present day to understand what parallel circumstance triggered the
conserved response, i.e., why is he again acting this way in this moment, and 4)
look at other possible ways of behaving or responding to these parallel stimuli,
i.e., make new, novel and more adequate choices in the here and now. (pp.67 -
68)

After the warming up in psychodrama group where the members of the group
were looking into their social atoms 8 Ana, (age 30) noticed that unlike the other
group members in her social atom there had not been even one relationship
that was characterized by conflict. This insight warmed her up for thinking of
the general way she relates to people that has been typified by the tendency to
avoid conflicts at any cost. She said that she always had believed that conflicts
were not for civilized people and that they could not bring anything good to
anyone so she would never enter into disputes. She also explained that she
could hardly stand the conflict situations among other people and that she
would always try to intervene and find some constructive solution. (This insight
was in accordance with therapists view on Ana’s relationships with group
members that were also conflict avoidant). In the psychodrama that followed
director and protagonist focused on reassessing the belief about the conflict
and consequent behaviour (avoidance and withdrawal) in interpersonal relations
from the point of view of personal cultural conserve.
Following Dayton’s model of working with individual cultural conserves the
following findings were discovered through the enactment of the scenes from
Ana’s present and past: 1) The pattern of belief and behavior of avoiding conflict
at any cost started in the childhood at the age of 8 when her father had to leave
the family and go abroad for substantial number of years; 2) the pattern was
developed in relationship with mother – who was always (and especially after her
husband left) very much hurt if anyone would disagree with her and would stop
communication with those who entered the conflict with her; in relationship

8
Moreno’s term for individual’s primary social network that can be drown as a diagram
with idealized absent father who, in his rare visits to family, praised peaceful
communication and requested from his children not to create any conflicts
among themselves and others; as well as in relationships with siblings who were
entering the conflict with mother that resulted in mother being hurt and siblings
being rejected by mother and punished by her silence; 3) at present time the
situations that trigger conflict avoidant behaviour are those in which Ana
disagrees with others but is afraid that she could hurt them or she would lose
their appreciation or love if she expresses her disagreement and discontent as
well as in situations in which Ana witnesses other people disagreement and
arguing at work, in group of friends etc.; 4) at last Ana tried to re-evaluate her
belief that conflicts are only bad and rehearsed the new response in typical
conflict situation that was presented on the psychodrama stage – in this “as if”
psychodrama situation of conflict at her job she could react (new response) in
order to protect her interests as a replacement for her previous withdrawing
behaviour.
The above described concept of personal cultural conserve apparently contains
some other theoretical concepts such as psychodramatic role concept and
psychoanalytic concept of transference that will be discussed later.
However, the value of applying Moreno’s ideas about cultural conserve onto
individual functioning is in providing a “context in which the operational self can
be view as a coherent whole. It holds a picture of the operational self while
providing practical direction to make changes” (Dayton, 2005, pp.67 - 68).
Dayton (2005), also emphasized that another important advantage of this model
was that this model was neither based on nor it ignored pathological potentials.
“The idea of a personal conserve provides a way of working with a personality in
an non-pathologizing way; it assumes that we all have patterns, we all have
origins of those patterns, we all have strengths and deficits, and we all have
relationship structures for better and worse that define our sociocultural world ”
(p.69).
The concept of personal cultural conserve offers practical framework for work
both on the intra-psychic level and the level of interpersonal relations and
amalgamates all of Moreno’s fundamental theories such as role theory, general
spontaneity theory and spontaneity theory of child development.

Another area in which cultural conserve concept can be applied within the group
therapeutic process is exploration of group norms. “Within a psychodrama group
a spontaneous act, weather it is initiated by the director or another group
member, can become an act or creation, which can then become part of the
group culture. Each group will have its own culture; build partly from individual
norms which people bring from their own family and social cultures, and partly
from the cultural expectations which have grown around the practice of
psychodrama.” (Banister, 1998, p.119)
Banister(1998) also pointed out that it was important that director should be
aware of those group norms i.e. cultural conserves of the group and recognize
when it is safe and therapeutic to challenge them in order to support
development of the group (para.119).

Moreno’s concept of cultural conserve was focused primarily on understanding

society – development of society, social norms and patterns and functioning of
individual in social milieu, nevertheless it is be applied in psychodrama therapy
more specifically in understanding of individual functioning and malfunctioning.
Identifying patterns in individual functioning and understanding these patterns
represents a powerful tool for achieving personal change. It also assists
individuals to rethink the culture they live in and helps in avoiding automatic
acceptance of tradition without previous evaluation.
„The cultural conserve in itself is morally neutral. The problem comes from
blindly relying on it as an authority or excessively clinging to it out of inertia,
mental laziness, or the fear of the unknown. We need to recognize the need for
continuing to create, for re-evaluating what has already been created“ (Blatner,
2000, pp. 75-76).
At last, Moreno has also emphasized that psychodrama itself should not become
a cultural conserve with a sacred quality. The system of psychodrama is not
perfected and it is available to the new generations of psychodramatists to
challenge it and to approach it always with the new spontaneity, refreshing it
and adapting it to the needs of continuously changing reality.

Relationship between spontaneity, creativity, warming up and cultural conserve

in Canon of creativity

Spontaneity - creativity
Although Moreno listed spontaneity and creativity as two separate factors they
are “intricately interconnected” (Tauvon Bradshaw, 1998, p.31) and thus they
are the best understood in relation to each other. Spontaneity is the catalyzer
while creativity is the essence, the content. Spontaneity can set in motion
creative act. Without spontaneity creativity is lifeless while without creativity
spontaneity is empty. This means that an individual can be creative but because
of not being spontaneous creativity does not emerge. On the contrary an
individual that is spontaneous can produce novelty but this novelty may have no
real value if it lacks creative content.
„Creativity is not mere novelty. It requires some shift toward a significantly
positive value. In actuality, though, the situation is complex. Creativity is not
always for the best. Sometimes a new idea lasts for a while, with many
enthusiastic adherents, and then its unintended side effects emerge which may
outweigh the initial benefits. Thus, it's not only the ancient or established that
must be re-evaluated; sometimes it's even that which has just been created“.
(Blatner, 2000, p.74)

The Warm up
The concept of the warm up belongs to Moreno’s general spontaneity theory but
the term is also used to name a part of psychodrama session and particular
psychodrama techniques. Since the term warm up is more often used as
psychodrama technique Taylor (1998, p.47), emphasized that warm up “is a
process and not simply a technique”.
Kipper claimed (1986, p.14) that Moreno had not provided a detailed theory of
motivation but that he made more of a general observation that people
possessed a drive, which he described as “act hunger”, as an inborn desire to
act.9
“This desire is nourished by a continuous force labeled as the warming up, a
process that prepares people and makes them ready to embark upon
spontaneous-creative behavior” (Kipper, 1986, p.14).
Spontaneity is closely connected and also dependent from the warming up
process. According to Moreno (1994, p. 52, first edition 1946), “the first basic
manifestation of spontaneity is the warming-up of the infant to the new setting”.
He assumed that warming-up as a process starts already in intrauterine phase of
life and that the outcome of delivery depends greatly on the level of warming up
of mother and infant. If mother and infant are not properly warmed up for
delivery the moment of birth may not be successful but it becomes dangerous.
Ability to warm up for an act is psychological and physical process that is natural
but it needs starters to be developed and experienced.
In his spontaneity theory of child development, Moreno described two kinds of
starters that are used to begin the warm-up process: mental starters and
physical starters.
Physical starters refer to bodily activity such as: walking, running, deeply
breathing, sucking. For instance, the infant start sucking as warming-up to the
act of feeding. Physical starters are dominant in the beginning of life but they
are important throughout the whole life. According to Kipper (1986, p. 84) in the

9
It is important to point out that act does not represent only a physical activity.
Explaining the wider meaning of act Schacht (2007, p.21), pointed out “...Action
should not be confused simply with activity. In the tradition of pragmatism, action
includes activity as well as sensitivity, peacefulness or humanity – a way of being
in the world. Action is conceptualized as ongoing, more or less spontaneous and
creative process of problem solving”.
life of adult physical starters tend to get a rescue quality, meaning that adults
make use of them especially in emergencies.
“Mental starters refer to activities influenced by (a) psychological triggers such
as fantasies, dreams, aspirations, fears, and quilt feelings or (b) sociocultural
triggers including effects of social norms, group pressures, social status, moral
obligations, ethical codes and external incentives” (Kipper, 1986, p.84).
Mental starters can, according to spontaneity theory of child development,
develop when child is able to differentiate self from the environment (other
people and objects). Both types of starters can be triggered by internal or
external stimuli. As well, according to Kipper (1986, pp.83-84), physical starters
can warm a person mentally and mental starters can warm a person physically,
but the warm up process may vary in speed, intensity, and adequacy. Adequacy
is related to the fact that every warm up process should end up in an act. If act
is satisfactory one than the warm –up was adequate and vice versa. Speed and
intensity influence adequacy – too slow, too fast, too little or too much can
result in inadequate level of warm-up state of a person.
Based on the above discussion it is observable that warming up process has great
importance in everyday life. “The link between spontaneity and the warm–up
process is vital in terms of the child and adult’s ability to engage and complete
tasks in life.” (Taylor, 1998, p.47)
The importance of warming-up is also supported by findings from neuroscience.
Hug (2007, p.232) explained it in the following way: “Anxiety produces adrenal
stress hormones which, if excessive, reduce the capacity of our hippocampus to
integrate new data. This impairs our spontaneity. Warming up is essential to
reducing anxiety and defences. On the other hand, it is under stress (but not too
much stress) that the brain changes its focus to new learning.”
Moreno noticed the existence of psychological and biochemical process in human
functioning that can lead to decrease of unproductive anxiety (high level) on one
hand and on the other hand can lead to acquiring an optimal level of stimulation
(i.e. anxiety) and he named this process the warm–up.
If we focus on our daily functioning we can identify this process going on and on
many times during the day when we try to achieve optimal level of
stimulation(anxiety): morning rituals that activate us to start the day, imagining
ourselves in the situation of the business meeting, choosing formal clothes for
public presentation, sexual fantasy that warm-us for sexual activity, walking up
and down through corridor prior to oral exam, arranging chairs in the room prior
to leading group session etc.
We are adequately warmed up when we reach optimal level of stimulation, our
spontaneity is high and our performance is the most advantageous.

Creativity, spontaneity, warming up and cultural conserve are in constant

interaction. This interaction is presented in the Canon of creativity. The original
figure of Canon of creativity (Moreno 1940 in Fox, 2008 p.47) is here slightly
visually adapted for the purpose of clarity.

CANON OF CREATIVITY

Warming up

Spontaneity Creativity Cultural Conserve

Warming up
In Canon of Creativity Moreno (1940, in Fox, 2008) has described 4 operations: 1)
spontaneity arouses creativity 2) creativity is receptive to spontaneity, 3) from
their interaction cultural conserve results, 4) the catalizer spontaneity
revitalizes cultural conserve
Spontaneity does not operate in a vacuum; it moves either towards creativity or
cultural conserve (para. 47).
To summarize, spontaneity arouses creativity and from interaction with it the
cultural conserve is created as an end product of spontaneous – creative process.
But through warming up process spontaneity tends to refresh and renew the
cultural conserve, to change it or even break it. In other direction, cultural
conserve through warming up process arouses new spontaneity, for instance
musical notation of Mozart’s concert arouses new spontaneity in pianist, or
Spinoza’s philosophy arouses new spontaneity in a contemporary philosopher.
Thus Moreno concluded that “Spontaneity and cultural conserves do not exist in
pure form, one is a function, a parasite of the other.” (Moreno, 1994, p.105)

Act hunger
Act hunger is a concept developed by Moreno and based on his belief that human
beings have inborn “hunger” i.e. need for actions or behaviours. According to
Moreno, the infant is an “act-personality” living predominantly in acts and in the
present moment. (Moreno 1994, p. 67 first edition 1946) In relation to this
Moreno believed that infant could not have unconscious since infant’s perception
of time had only one dimension –the present. Dimension of the past could
develop later which would enable subsequently the development of the
unconscious.
Nevertheless, “the longing to take action toward completion is act hunger”
(Dayton, 2005, p.55) and it does not exist only in infancy but during the whole
life of the individual.
In psychodrama therapy the act hunger is an important concept given that
psychodramatic stage offers possibility to clients to complete different acts that
they were not able to complete in their lives. There are numerous reasons, both
of internal and external nature, out of which an act cannot be completed. The
uncompleted acts may have complex negative impacts on psychological
functioning such as blocked spontaneity, prolonged mourning and different
separation issues, anxiety and helplessness due to inability to act in traumatic
situation etc. Thus, the big portion of psychodrama work aims to enable clients
to act as it had been wished and required in the past situations.

God head
Moreno has often been criticized (Haywort, Blatner, Dalmiro etc) that he was
presenting his ideas unsystematically, unscientifically, chaotically and even
poetically and that in his writings he was extensively showing signs of narcissism
and megalomania. Involving religious ideas in the field of psychotherapy was
especially unacceptable by mid of last century when religion and science were in
the state of confrontation and when spirituality was very rarely, as for instance
in the work of C.G.Jung, subject of interest of psychology and psychotherapy
sciences.

However Moreno used the term realign in a broad sense and his of Moreno’s
spiritual concepts hold importance for the overall theory of psychodrama and for
its practice.
According to Blatner (2000): “Moreno, never really affiliated his theological ideas
with any particular religion—his ideas, he felt, could be integrated into and
inform all the different religions.“ (p.64)

The essence of Moreno’s spiritual concept could be in simplified way described

as following:
 God is essentially creative,
 The ultimate force of cosmos is creativity and humans are cosmic
creatures (not
only individual or social),
 Each person is created and thus each person is a co-creator,
 Each person is god like or in Moreno’s words God head
 Since each person is a creator or god head therefore each person has
responsibility for the world (cosmos) which he/she has been creating

Moreno’s thinking of the god is not traditional one. Here, god’s purpose is
neither to judge nor to punish, he does not have final answers, he does not
represent a stable definite order but he is dynamic, unfinished, in the constant
state of creativity and is acting through the creativity of every being in the
world.
Moreno (1994), does not enter into discussion about the existence of god. “The
question of existence or not-existence of God does not matter here, as an ideal
value postulate he has axiological significance…This is an axiological scale: the
ideal exponent of one pole is a totally spontaneous creator, and the ideal
exponent of the other, the total cultural conserve.” (p.105)

Furthermore, Moreno developed the principle of „I-god“ which means that every
person is both, the one that is created and the one that creates. In theology the
idea that every living being is an expression of god is called
“immanence”. Definition of immanence is “the pervading presence of god in his
creation“, and the definition of the transcendence of god is „to be above and
independent of the physical universe“(Bernhart, 1976). In traditional
understanding of god these two attributes are opposite but complimentary, and
need to be kept in balance to understand god. In Moreno’s religious/spiritual
ideas the transcendence of god is totally neglected. For him, god is not the
superior being onto whom humans project their power, inested, the creative
power is internal one. For Moreno, god is not only present in everyone but, in a
way, every person is god.
Although these ideas may be understood within the context of Moreno’s
omnipotence and megalomania it is nevertheless important to look into impact
of his theology on psychodramatic approach that can be summarized in the
following postulates:
 In psychodrama, every client is potentially fully creative and able to
create his
life,
 Every person, including the client, can create his/her environment,
 Every person has responsibility for his/her own life and for environment
he/she lives in,
 Psychodrama should help client to achieve the state of being in which
creativity is at the highest level, to use his/her strengths and come up with
creative solutions for him/herself, relationships and the environment.

The importance of Moreno’s theological ideas for psychodrama is in their

emphasis on everyone’s potential strengths and ability of everyone to create, to
be an active and responsible participant in his/her own life and lives of those
around him. This approach contains respect for each and every human being
regardless of his/her present condition as well as trust in underlying capacities of
every single individual thus it has in itself a therapeutic potential and value.
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