Thyself, Reinvented
As a teenager, slowly crawling through inarguably the most difficult stage of life yet, I was certain that a true path to happiness was through the art of self-sacrifice. Having no shortage of exposure to foreign films in my younger years of those tragic love stories of high stakes and longing, this was my first modal impression of relationships and the essential reason to why I thought common relationships were full of arguments. Without benefiting others, I could not validate my existence and was predestined to failure in my personal, familial and professional life.
Today, I was handed a small and roughly cut pamphlet as I travelled through to Central Station. The man who handed it to me made an extra effort to inspect me as I approached him from the pedestrian crossing, passing me an undeniable smirk as though there was some divine passage of knowledge to be channeled through my hands. It was a printed document providing a hyperlink to Kabbalah, an ancient following which has guided me in self-empowerment for several years. I have not visited the website to see what it has to offer; instead, I have reflected upon the conjunction between my former way of being and this present-day occurance. There is a new call for meaning that begs the question: is it essential to keep an open-mind and absorb (critically) various doctrine, or is the life journey self-sustaining and intrinsically viable enough to tailor its own lessons?
To illustrate this angle, I have consulted particular religions (and have done so for the purpose of example and not for narrow-minded discrimination).
After reading Siddharta by Herman Hesse, I made some vital changes to my understanding of Buddhism. One of the first things I noticed was the cover art: it was not a photograph or some poorly superimposed image, but rather a rough colour crayon sketch of the face of Gotama Buddha. While still a teacher who had attained nirvana some thousand years ago, Buddhism is in practice as much of a concept in practice as a charcoal sketch. Although the teaching (that is, the principles) are unwaivering through time, the Buddhist concept is merely a sketch that is tangiable to each persona. Siddartha does not begin as a “perfect” character and never does become one, but it is probably through the realising causation in his life that the story brings meaning to its reader.
More simply put, he put out the big questions about life, love and sexuality and sought them - with numerous perspectives - he makes choices and reaches his own nirvana. Perhaps it is just as fluid as we suggested.
We can also consider Jesus of Nazareth who, to the best of our knowledge, was Jewish and later learned that he was the son of God (might I add that God is a Hebrew word?). Of course, this is all theorising to meander a common point: these religious figures lived (secular or otherwise) before their introduction and enrichment of spirituality.
It could be asserted that there are unique qualities imbued in life and in spirituality: that they are inextricably linked, inseperable, and are thus experienced as one in itself… When we feel the desire to make dramatic changes to our thinking style, we are embracing that world-changing and spiritually enriching process: thyself, simply reinvented.
Regardless of your lifepath, it can be safely and firmly asserted that any choice made in good will hunting, with the highest ambitions for constructive change will ultimately be guided by that spiritual surge of fulfillment. One should not be confined to the belief that religion is the only spirituality nor that it is the only path; equally so should one not feel that cynicism or total rejection of theology and metaphysics is “rewarding enough”.
In its quintessence, allow the voice of thyself to be satisfied with the undeviating justice born in all things, and you will surely know ‘real’.
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