Today will begin my first article on the JOURNEY OF LIFE.
It will begin with the First Chapter Titled:
IN SEARCH OF LIFE'S MEANING
“Life is an endless, truly endless struggle. There is no time when we are going to arrive at a plateau where the whole thing gets sorted. It is a struggle in the way every plant has to find its own way to stand up straight. A lot of time it is a failure. Yet, it is not a failure if some enlightenment comes out of it.”
- By Arthur Miller, a play writer.
"It is a wise man that knows his own father, but it is an even wiser man that knows himself before the closing of his days", the saying goes. Fundamentally, if we can’t be who we are, at least, don't be who we are not. We have to stop pretending, or else we will waste our life. Look outside to find ourself, and do not expect to find the full truth until you have exhausted most of all the possibilities, until you are near the end of searching; the end of the journey of life.
“Tragedy in life is not death, but the tragedy is to die with commitments undefined, with convictions undeclared and service unfulfilled”.
- Words from Rachel Lindsey’s poem
However much we may deny it, the way other people see us does influence the way we see ourselves. It should be proper that we take our identity into our own care, provided that we give it a reality check with those who knows us. We should define for ourselves, who we are and what we stand for. Identity requires responsibility, and without responsibility there is no self-respect. We are all different people in different situations. The moment we arrive when we are comfortable with who we are, and what we are – bald or old, fat or poor, successful or struggling – when we don’t feel the need to apologize for anything or to deny anything, and to be comfortable in our own skin is the beginning of strength. Only when we are comfortable in our own skins will we be of much use to anyone else. Individuals must be allowed to be the best judge of their own interests, even if they often seem to be misguided. It is inadequate to borrow beliefs. We have to work them out for ourselves.
In our life, there's always a chance to make the best of ourselves. There is in each of us a tendency towards achieving and a tendency that we fail, at the same time, there's also a tendency that we do good and a tendency towards doing evil. The proper, or decent self is one where the good is revealed and the evil restrained.
One school of thought is that life is not about the satisfaction of needs only, although that is inevitably part of it, but taking the chance to test oneself against all challenges that comes your way and so to prove oneself. We have today the opportunity to shape ourselves and to reinvent ourselves. Our lives are not completely foreordained, either by science or by our soul, but by our determination to do things that gives us satisfaction and brings us self-esteem up to the level of self-actualization.
If we knew how it is to live fully satisfied and contended, what it is to meant to be fully ourselves, it would all be too easy. Since we don’t know how and what it is until we achieve it, we can only proceed by constant probing and continuous exploration. It is always a long search into the sphere of unknowns and untested grounds. Many will give up half way, or some may not even not get started. The sooner we start experimenting ourselves, the better. We should like the idea of a self which can lift itself to unknown heights, a self which exercise self-discipline, postpones gratification in order to discover the very peaks of life. That's the Journey of Life in the Search of it's Meaning.
(Chapter 2: The Search of meaning - to be continued)
It will begin with the First Chapter Titled:
IN SEARCH OF LIFE'S MEANING
“Life is an endless, truly endless struggle. There is no time when we are going to arrive at a plateau where the whole thing gets sorted. It is a struggle in the way every plant has to find its own way to stand up straight. A lot of time it is a failure. Yet, it is not a failure if some enlightenment comes out of it.”
- By Arthur Miller, a play writer.
"It is a wise man that knows his own father, but it is an even wiser man that knows himself before the closing of his days", the saying goes. Fundamentally, if we can’t be who we are, at least, don't be who we are not. We have to stop pretending, or else we will waste our life. Look outside to find ourself, and do not expect to find the full truth until you have exhausted most of all the possibilities, until you are near the end of searching; the end of the journey of life.
“Tragedy in life is not death, but the tragedy is to die with commitments undefined, with convictions undeclared and service unfulfilled”.
- Words from Rachel Lindsey’s poem
However much we may deny it, the way other people see us does influence the way we see ourselves. It should be proper that we take our identity into our own care, provided that we give it a reality check with those who knows us. We should define for ourselves, who we are and what we stand for. Identity requires responsibility, and without responsibility there is no self-respect. We are all different people in different situations. The moment we arrive when we are comfortable with who we are, and what we are – bald or old, fat or poor, successful or struggling – when we don’t feel the need to apologize for anything or to deny anything, and to be comfortable in our own skin is the beginning of strength. Only when we are comfortable in our own skins will we be of much use to anyone else. Individuals must be allowed to be the best judge of their own interests, even if they often seem to be misguided. It is inadequate to borrow beliefs. We have to work them out for ourselves.
In our life, there's always a chance to make the best of ourselves. There is in each of us a tendency towards achieving and a tendency that we fail, at the same time, there's also a tendency that we do good and a tendency towards doing evil. The proper, or decent self is one where the good is revealed and the evil restrained.
One school of thought is that life is not about the satisfaction of needs only, although that is inevitably part of it, but taking the chance to test oneself against all challenges that comes your way and so to prove oneself. We have today the opportunity to shape ourselves and to reinvent ourselves. Our lives are not completely foreordained, either by science or by our soul, but by our determination to do things that gives us satisfaction and brings us self-esteem up to the level of self-actualization.
If we knew how it is to live fully satisfied and contended, what it is to meant to be fully ourselves, it would all be too easy. Since we don’t know how and what it is until we achieve it, we can only proceed by constant probing and continuous exploration. It is always a long search into the sphere of unknowns and untested grounds. Many will give up half way, or some may not even not get started. The sooner we start experimenting ourselves, the better. We should like the idea of a self which can lift itself to unknown heights, a self which exercise self-discipline, postpones gratification in order to discover the very peaks of life. That's the Journey of Life in the Search of it's Meaning.
(Chapter 2: The Search of meaning - to be continued)
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