Do you ever wonder what your life would be like if you could just walk away from everything without consequences to the people who love or depend upon you? Just walk away from your job, your memories, your obligations, your family, your friends. Just leave. What kind of person would be created.
People identify themselves by what they do for a living. I am an engineer. I am a nurse. I am a doctor. I am a...writer. People identify themselves in relation to other people. I am a wife, a husband, a daughter, a son, a boss, a worker-bee.
I think that people want the security that comes with knowing their place in their lives, in other’s lives and in society. But what is left if you take all those things away? What is left of the person you think you are? Who are you?
What if you identified yourself by how you feel, by what or who you love, by what or who you hate? Is that an evolutionary step back? I suppose Darwin would say that survival of the fittest has governed the development of our social structures and ourselves. But what if you think that none of the structures seem to fit you? What if everything you have is taken from you in a huge upheaval, whether by forces emotional, physical or spiritual? Who are YOU? Not the facade we each present to the world, but what makes up the essence of you.
I can say that I love to play piano. I can say that I hate green beans. I can say that I love being drenched by a sudden splash of soft summer rain. I can say that I love cloud watching, watching the sparkling night sky, watching a lunar eclipse. I can say a lot about ME without referring to what I do for a living or the people who populate my life.
I think it’s important to know who you are before you can find your place in the rest of your life or in other’s lives.
Just a thought.
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