“Truth that’s told with bad intent, Bests all the lies you can invent.” — William Blake
This quote takes in all of us, on levels we only begin to understand. When you finally distill and listen to what you are thinking, saying, and doing day after day an enlightenment of purpose usually follows. Unfortunately, our layers of behavior and misguided intent veils our efforts . . . sometimes for decades. It is painful for many to take an honest look at themselves perhaps for the first time, and peel back the layers of how truth has been used, manipulated, configured and modified for “bad intent.” Another way of looking at this comes from Don Miguel Ruiz, “You re the way you are because that is what you believe about yourself.”
Take this one step further . . . before you even read these words . . . did you give it a second thought? No matter how hard we try, we haven’t conquered running away from ourselves with much success . . . in the last analysis, we have become abject failures in that regard. Self-respect when based on lies equals what? Buddha’s words resound quite loudly, “All that we are is the result of what we have thought.”
We can possess honors, receive accolades, have buildings dedicated in our name, attend the most prestigious colleges/universities that reflect unparalleled educational/intellectual prowess, and miss the greatest gift we will ever know, experience or comprehend. What is that gift to you? When your consciousness takes precedent of every sound you utter, every act you perform and the conduct/behavior that you exhibit on a day to day basis, you begin to see your life without the layers of conditioned reality obscuring your vision. Discernment, intent, purpose and content of character begin to resound with a little more truth through these words of Thomas Sowell, “Too much of what is called ‘education’ is little more than an expensive isolation from reality.”
It is never too late to re-invent yourself. In fact, you might have already begun and not realized it. You may have been living a lie, and through some life changing experience made another choice and went in another direction. The process may have already started, and will get your attention when you least expect it. Aristotle in this quote uses words that are quite poignant, yet direct when he says, “No notice is taken of evil, but when it increases it strikes the eye.” Awareness is a contagious element of the human condition, influenced by a conscious mind standing in its own truth without compromise. JLR