
Carefully, patiently dissecting the urge to perform yields the unexpected anatomy of our truest motivations. What are these factors that drive us? They may be obvious or obtuse, noble or base. They may appear in one guise, only to be exposed later in truer form. They often take a bit of coaxing before revealing themselves. But if, as Socrates believed, the unexamined life is not worth living, then this part of life, this sliver we share with so many others, is perhaps most worthy of our unfaltering gaze. Why do we perform?