Over the threshold

A lot of things can force you over the threshold, whether you want to go or not. Thirteen years ago America, as a nation, was pushed over a threshold, but we were ill-prepared for it, so we've made a mess of it. We made it about "having" (liberty, power, might) instead of about "being" (free, wise, right). The same thing could happen to any of us, especially if we're forced to cross. It's always better to go voluntarily. Take charge with that very first step. It makes a difference.

What we have cannot define us. We're not our cars, our houses, our jobs, our bank accounts, our titles or anything like that. What others have about (or on) us cannot define us. We're not the gazillion of data points, bits of information or emails the alphabet agencies or commercial enterprises have collected on us. All these "have" things can only, at best, be rather arbitrarily combined, mixed and matched to create a picture, a perception, an idea of us. But, in the end, that is not us. If we, on the other hand, know no better, we believe that we're the picture, the perception or the idea. When we do, we become slaves to the picture. We didn't make it and we have no command over what it does or how it is seen. We can say all we want that "that's not me", but who should care, and how would you convince them otherwise? What is more, anything you "have" can be taken away from you. Lose your car, your house, your job, and what is left, as experience and life has shown us, is a broken, lost, forlorn individual. A miserable wretch, or maybe even a suicide. Yes, it can be existential.

What you are, on the other hand, is what you are. What you are cannot be taken from you and only you can change it. You are free to decide if you are generous or stingy, compassionate or cruel, kind or abusive, loving or hateful, helpful or hurtful. We should also recall that we like some things and dislike others, but too often we don't know why. The Quest that I have been dwelling on for the past few posts is there, primarily, to discover these what's and why's; your strengths and weaknesses; your inclinations and aversions; what fills you with joy, what with despair; what you believe and how you have come to believe it; whether life is meaningful or meaningless, and more. To glean these insights, though, you have to be prepared to take a good, hard, honest look at yourself. It takes courage. Truth be told, getting past the Terror of the Threshold is the easy part.

And for as ephemeral as it all sounds, this you is the one that can withstand all the onslaughts, distortions, and vagaries to which it is subjected. It is only when you Know Thyself that you can expose the pictures, perceptions and ideas of us for the illusions they are. When you do, you make your insides like your outsides, so to speak -- toku k'varo, as one tradition puts it -- you exhibit existential integrity, you become transparent (not invisible), in a sense, a what-you-see-is-all-you're-ever-going-to-get person. Take the chance. Cross the threshold. Pursue the Quest. Find out who you really are.

Be all that you can be ... be you.