Skip to main content

Authentic Living


How hard do you suppose it might be for someone to suddenly adopt an existential life style of living authentically? The idea of freely choosing one’s own purpose, deciding what is meaningful, living one’s life on one’s own terms with no thought of what others may think nor any thought given as to how this choice of living will affect them, must surely be a costly venture. Can it be done without tearing apart relationships? Should that really even be a consideration?

To be what many would consider a non-conformist, to have autonomy over one’s own life, is to transcend socialization, to resist the allure and not be seduced by what is essentially the easy ways of a conformist. But at what cost?

Should it give one pause to consider, before embarking on a life of free choices, to live by your own standards, to do what you will, when you will it, and how you will it to be done, what the consequences will be on those we love?

Aren’t such people, who choose to live so freely, reviled rather than revered?

The alternative is the decision not to live in such a free manner as to cause disharmony amongst family and friends. Compromise. That surely must be the catchphrase, after all, one must “go along in order to get along.”

But, when it is our turn to die, and die we will, for it is inevitable that we all must die, no one will tap us on the shoulder and say, “not you, not yet, I will take your place.” That reality rather places the responsibility of our life squarely on our own shoulders.

Doesn’t it?

Comments

  1. Really enjoying your blogs,wasn't aware of them until today.Thanks so much for great topics,it feels good to stimulate the brain.Bravo

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

21st CENTURY QUIXOTIC MAN

Maybe I'm old, but I find it increasingly more difficult to gather legitimate informative news articles. Sources are questionable, I fact check, but then the integrity of the fact checkers is called into question. I have a job, a family, and other interests. I am busy trying to live my life. When I'm on the net, especially Facebook, it is in between tasks and I'm on the move. I am not writing a doctoral dissertation, merely commenting on something that catches my eye. Yes, I get caught up in defending my opinion. And it is hard to admit that it is only opinion; I have no access to state information, I have no poli-sci degree, I'm just commenting about what I read. If I had expertise or knowledge no one else had I would get myself into a position where I could employ my specific set of skills and knowledge to effect change. I wouldn't spend hours on Facebook telling everyone they were being duped. I'm just a blue collar worker close to retirement, tir...

My Mother

My mother has died. That somber fact has me processing thoughts of guilt, love, and my own mortality. I am officially an orphan. My mother was one of the “Railway Children,” those Liverpool kids sent to the countryside to escape the bombing during World War II. She and her sister were sent to Wales and were bounced from household to household, relative to relative, and finally to an orphanage. Dad moved to Canada in 1960 to forge a better a life for us. Before my mum took my sister and I to join him, the family held an “American wake,” a mournful goodbye, as if a loved one had died. Mum left everything and everybody she ever knew to join her husband in the new world. My mother and father worked hard to give us a good life. There were tough times, money was scarce, and there was tension between my parents. Hell, let me be honest, my father hit my mother, I saw it. My mum was sixty when she left my dad. She just walked out with the clothes on her back. That was my mum. Tough. W...

On Being Heard

Is it me or does anyone else think they are not being heard? Doesn't it seem that these days folks don't  listen to what you are saying and instead they prepare a response even while you are still speaking?  I don't know about you but I find this frustrating. This behaviour is sometimes accompanied by the person you are talking with editorializing every few sentences you make which causes you to lose your train of thought. And of course, with the ubiquitous mobile phone, it is hard to tell if the person you are talking with is even listening, they are too busy checking something on FaceBook. But that is not so much an issue of a difference in linguistic styles as it is more about plain bad manners. My linguistic style can be passionate and animated especially if I am talking about something important to me. I don't know if it's my age or if I am not as mentally strong as I should be, but constant editorializing greatly distracts me. I also think that when I am i...