I've been recently giving a lot of thought to the substance of life (cliche but nonetheless) - What we choose to fill our lives with, and how well aligned that is with our deeper longings. What kind of impact do we hope to leave on the world, in and beyond our lifetime? Is what we are doing today doing something of significance, affecting the world in some way so that we know our time was well spent, or soul fed, our inner self nurtured.
At certain moments when I really get down to thinking about the Bigger Questions, I recall the Romantics, who believed they were channeling the divine through their writing. I get invigorated by the thought of finally embracing the dream of following in their steps and doing just that: Channeling something higher - something more authentic - so that I may leave an impact on the world that too, is authentic - that leaves an impression.
It's no coincidence that "author" and "authentic" etymologically both stem from words that have everything to do with beginnings, creation, and growth. It is not an easy task to set something forth, but it can be the most rewarding to know that you planted the seed, led the way, your way, a way that's true to you.
If we're lucky, we will all find a way to channel a higher purpose through our actions - be it nurturing a family, a community, or oneself; be it nurturing a piece of writing, a talent, or a latent passion. It's just a matter of beginning to do so - a matter of authoring our own future to give our life substance, to make it authentic.
I choose today the word authentic. Not the word impact, impression or author. This is because I believe that while the product (the impact, impression) or subject (the author) are crucial to making the authentic happen, it is the authenticity that gives it all a higher, purer worth. What is an impact if it is not genuine? What is an author if he or she is inauthentic? Authenticity can be the higher purpose - the rest are just vehicles or mediums of expressing the authentic life experience.
For me, I've long believed I'd get that by literally authoring something of significance. No crazy bestseller or an Amazon top pick. Just a completed work that I myself am proud of, so that I know I did it. It need not even ever get read. I just need to know it exists.
I promise myself to complete that book I started writing - or start a new one (don't know which is scarier). I'm scared to do it, in case I fail, but the thought of not doing it petrifies me more. The thought of not embarking on it makes me feel a failure.
To leave an impact - (the figurative sense of "forceful impression" is from 1817, Coleridge!) - is of utmost importance. What we do with our time here will hopefully leave some kind of positive impression. What that impact is will differ for all of us, and even as we embark on making that impression on the world we may find we're not doing enough to 'feed our soul.' However, the one known is that impact doesn't just happen - it requires momentum, energy on our part - and most of all, a start. And maybe, yet another start. But we'll get there, and the actions we take can and will be authentic if we let them.
To rob ourselves the opportunity to take ownership of our lives, be the authority in our own life, so that we can begin and grow is not in the spirit of living an authentic life.
At certain moments when I really get down to thinking about the Bigger Questions, I recall the Romantics, who believed they were channeling the divine through their writing. I get invigorated by the thought of finally embracing the dream of following in their steps and doing just that: Channeling something higher - something more authentic - so that I may leave an impact on the world that too, is authentic - that leaves an impression.
It's no coincidence that "author" and "authentic" etymologically both stem from words that have everything to do with beginnings, creation, and growth. It is not an easy task to set something forth, but it can be the most rewarding to know that you planted the seed, led the way, your way, a way that's true to you.
author (n.) from Latin auctorem ("enlarger, founder, master, leader," - literally "one who causes to grow")
authentic (adj.) from Medieval Latin authenticus ("original, genuine, principal,") and authentes ("one acting on one's own authority").
If we're lucky, we will all find a way to channel a higher purpose through our actions - be it nurturing a family, a community, or oneself; be it nurturing a piece of writing, a talent, or a latent passion. It's just a matter of beginning to do so - a matter of authoring our own future to give our life substance, to make it authentic.
I choose today the word authentic. Not the word impact, impression or author. This is because I believe that while the product (the impact, impression) or subject (the author) are crucial to making the authentic happen, it is the authenticity that gives it all a higher, purer worth. What is an impact if it is not genuine? What is an author if he or she is inauthentic? Authenticity can be the higher purpose - the rest are just vehicles or mediums of expressing the authentic life experience.
For me, I've long believed I'd get that by literally authoring something of significance. No crazy bestseller or an Amazon top pick. Just a completed work that I myself am proud of, so that I know I did it. It need not even ever get read. I just need to know it exists.
I promise myself to complete that book I started writing - or start a new one (don't know which is scarier). I'm scared to do it, in case I fail, but the thought of not doing it petrifies me more. The thought of not embarking on it makes me feel a failure.
To leave an impact - (the figurative sense of "forceful impression" is from 1817, Coleridge!) - is of utmost importance. What we do with our time here will hopefully leave some kind of positive impression. What that impact is will differ for all of us, and even as we embark on making that impression on the world we may find we're not doing enough to 'feed our soul.' However, the one known is that impact doesn't just happen - it requires momentum, energy on our part - and most of all, a start. And maybe, yet another start. But we'll get there, and the actions we take can and will be authentic if we let them.
To rob ourselves the opportunity to take ownership of our lives, be the authority in our own life, so that we can begin and grow is not in the spirit of living an authentic life.
"Authenticity" is being faithful to internal rather than external ideas. A lack of authenticity is considered in existentialism to be bad faith.
- Jean-Paul Sartre's philosophy (dumbed down)
And living in bad faith is a sustained form of deception - a kind of "double heartedness" in one's existence that is based on deception, of self and of others.So be true to yourself - live authentically with "one mind" set on a simple truth - that we are all authors of our own life and can live it pure - we just have to listen close and hear what it is our soul desires. And then...start.
- paraphrased from Webster's Dictionary, 1913
