“There is a time in every man’s education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till.”
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Did I say I was addicted to Emerson? Well the other day the above paragraph knocked me right in the gut (in a good way). “envy is ignorance…imitation is suicide” can I get some “Amens” and “Hallelujahs” for that one?
Now I’d like to say that I never envy or try to imitate, but let’s get real… we all do it to one extent or another from time to time. Of course we do. We are living in a society that is set up for such behavior, and it is for certain the quickest way to inner suicide—the death of our peace, tranquility and BLISSFUL LIFE. I'm going to work very hard not to waste my time comparing myself to others because I was not put on this earth to be anyone else. I was put here to BE ME. That’s it. Just me.
“…The eye was placed where one ray should fall, that it might testify of that particular ray.”
~Emerson
I don’t want to have my gaze so fixed upon others that I miss the one ray that I was placed here to see—that particular ray that is my life’s errand to experience and to testify about.
Wish me luck.
5 comments:
Amen, Amen! Hallelujah!!!
Got on here to say AMEN ! See that Im not the only one! lol
I love that thought-"imitation is suicide". If only we could teach it to middle school kids, and let them know that as soon as you start trying so hard to be someone else, you lose a little bit of your own wonderfully unique self.
I love these thoughts!
You are very inspiring and I love that photograph!!
Post a Comment