HomeWriting ʌ CultureQuotesAn Amazing Modern Philosopher/Soul Sister Quotes, Writing ʌ Culture 2 Comments My Favorite Modern Philosopher/Soul Sister She’s not scared of revealing our dark nature. talkativolive: We live in a place and time where people are seldom true. Even when they are by themselves, they cannot—will not release the persona they have assumed in order to appease their counterparts, their audience. This is no folly, everyone is in truth not only a critic, but a judge. And maybe this is how it has always been— Since the beginnings of “civilization”. For safety I would suppose. Safety from those cowards— in their small, ill-fitting universes who are shocked and disturbed by any who dare challenge what they find to be the correct pattern of living. Making too many of us not ourselves, but fulfillers of roles required by a purposeless society. 2 Responses Briary C Z February 20, 2015 There are costs to being true. It hurts, there are adverse consequences… people said about Sylvia Plath that she took a gamble, writing the kind of poetry she did, and she lost. I disagree… I think instead of saying she may have ended up killing herself because of her raw honesty, I think she may have died even younger had she not committed to that authenticity.. and the years of living that she had may well have been drained of what made life worth living if she had given in to societal pressures not to tell the truth.. if she had refrained from writing the raw kind of poetry that she did. While there are adverse consequences to authenticity, to insisting on peering past the convenient lies, the pretense that interactions and structures in society are based on… there is a deep peace you acquire by being real. If you have values and beliefs that mean a lot to you, you lose something irreplaceable by not being true to those things. What you lose will not be replaced by any of the advantages that you may gain. The rift between your truest deepest self and the person you might pretend to be for the sake of acceptability is one of the worst kinds of pain. It’s not worth it. AWaking Dream February 21, 2015 Hi Briary, Captivatingly well said. Your words are at the core of a life well-pursued: “While there are adverse consequences to authenticity, to insisting on peering past the convenient lies, the pretense that interactions and structures in society are based on… there is a deep peace you acquire by being real.” That peace is the bedrock of you; underneath the despair, depression, joys, and heights alike. My good friend shared this excerpt from David Elkins with me, and I think it speaks to exactly this. “If someone told me I could live my life free of depression provided I was willing to give up the gifts depression has given me, the depth of awareness, the expanded consciousness, the increased sensitivity, the awareness of limitation, the tenderness of love, the meaning of friendship, the appreciation of life, the joy of a passionate heart – I would say “This is a faustian bargain”. Give me my depressions. Let the darkness descend. But do not take away the gifts that depression, with the help of some unseen hand has dredged up from the deep ocean of my soul and strewn along the shores of my life. I can endure the darkness if I must, but I cannot live without these gifts. I cannot live without my soul.”
Briary C Z February 20, 2015 There are costs to being true. It hurts, there are adverse consequences… people said about Sylvia Plath that she took a gamble, writing the kind of poetry she did, and she lost. I disagree… I think instead of saying she may have ended up killing herself because of her raw honesty, I think she may have died even younger had she not committed to that authenticity.. and the years of living that she had may well have been drained of what made life worth living if she had given in to societal pressures not to tell the truth.. if she had refrained from writing the raw kind of poetry that she did. While there are adverse consequences to authenticity, to insisting on peering past the convenient lies, the pretense that interactions and structures in society are based on… there is a deep peace you acquire by being real. If you have values and beliefs that mean a lot to you, you lose something irreplaceable by not being true to those things. What you lose will not be replaced by any of the advantages that you may gain. The rift between your truest deepest self and the person you might pretend to be for the sake of acceptability is one of the worst kinds of pain. It’s not worth it.
AWaking Dream February 21, 2015 Hi Briary, Captivatingly well said. Your words are at the core of a life well-pursued: “While there are adverse consequences to authenticity, to insisting on peering past the convenient lies, the pretense that interactions and structures in society are based on… there is a deep peace you acquire by being real.” That peace is the bedrock of you; underneath the despair, depression, joys, and heights alike. My good friend shared this excerpt from David Elkins with me, and I think it speaks to exactly this. “If someone told me I could live my life free of depression provided I was willing to give up the gifts depression has given me, the depth of awareness, the expanded consciousness, the increased sensitivity, the awareness of limitation, the tenderness of love, the meaning of friendship, the appreciation of life, the joy of a passionate heart – I would say “This is a faustian bargain”. Give me my depressions. Let the darkness descend. But do not take away the gifts that depression, with the help of some unseen hand has dredged up from the deep ocean of my soul and strewn along the shores of my life. I can endure the darkness if I must, but I cannot live without these gifts. I cannot live without my soul.”
