Initially, I was inspired from a sentence written by the French philosopher, Simone Weil: "Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity." As I thought on it, it drew me to another riff I've been stuck on - this one of all places, from the film "X-Men, First Class." There is a lovely scene where the nascent group of X-Men are 'training' themselves. Eric, soon to be Magneto, walks in on Raven, already mostly Mystique, as she is lifting a barbell (or is it a dumbbell? or am I for caring!).
She's 'pumping the iron' while holding the appearance of the cute little blond co-ed. Eric uses his talent to suspend the weight above her, relieving her effort. He then says, and I madly paraphrase - "Think of what you could do with your power if you weren't using half of it to put on that facade" and then releases the weight; immediately Raven shifts back to Mystique, in order to catch the falling weight. Point being, energy expended 'fronting' is energy we are NOT using 'being'.
Man, that applies pretty broadly, whether we like to admit it: at least to me.. How many of y'all do an enormous amount of work to 'maintain a facade' that is needed? At work, because of work, in your relationships, in life? Because you are a yogi, do you not want to be seen drinking a beer and having a BBQ? Because you are a 'man', do you not want to be vulnerable or scared? Because you are in a questionable relationship, do you 'change' your behavior to not make waves? Why??
Stupid, but it reminds me of a friend from years ago who was a dedicated burner... doobie daily. He met a girl, supposedly of his dreams, and she made some early reference to potheads being losers. Up through their entire dating, and engagement (which thankfully got called off), he lived a life where he presented to her a straight and clean, but honestly, was smoking in his closet, through a towel, using Ozium, brushing his teeth 15 times a day, using Visine hourly - all because he wanted to be a toker, but also wanted to live with someone who wasn't going to live with a toker. Enough on that, it still pisses me off, and most folks I know may have done that in Prep school, or in your dorm room, but 'adults' are allowed to do what they want in their home, even if that is pulling tubes, eating Haagen Dasz for dinner, or wearing stained boxers.
If you're being you, you do what you need to do. Sometimes what you want versus truly need, but there is a necessity to be true to the self. I don't know about y'all; I'm having a hard enough time living this one life, I don't have time for duplicity! If it works for you, let's be engaged in active relationship; if it doesn't, no offense intended!
Thus, from Simon Weil, to the X-Men, to the closeted-tube-puller. I would offer that "attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity" as long as we understand that it works in both internal and external relationships. What if you transcended this from being about personal relationships to manifest the concept of generosity towards oneself and one’s health and mind? What insight might you gain - what truth might you live? What gift of self can you give your Self?
Stop fronting, stop living up to, stop not provoking, stop stopping - love yourself and use that precious life force we have not to 'be who you should be' but rather 'be who you are meant to be'. The relief of not expending all of your internal energy so that you are a "Raven" and not a "Mystique" serves no one, and diminishes your own ability to be generous - to self, to others, to all.
Give it some thought, tell me what you think, offer another perspective! Just be you! You know what they say, everyone else is taken, and most of them are phoning it in!
Give thanks and praise!
She's 'pumping the iron' while holding the appearance of the cute little blond co-ed. Eric uses his talent to suspend the weight above her, relieving her effort. He then says, and I madly paraphrase - "Think of what you could do with your power if you weren't using half of it to put on that facade" and then releases the weight; immediately Raven shifts back to Mystique, in order to catch the falling weight. Point being, energy expended 'fronting' is energy we are NOT using 'being'.
Man, that applies pretty broadly, whether we like to admit it: at least to me.. How many of y'all do an enormous amount of work to 'maintain a facade' that is needed? At work, because of work, in your relationships, in life? Because you are a yogi, do you not want to be seen drinking a beer and having a BBQ? Because you are a 'man', do you not want to be vulnerable or scared? Because you are in a questionable relationship, do you 'change' your behavior to not make waves? Why??
Stupid, but it reminds me of a friend from years ago who was a dedicated burner... doobie daily. He met a girl, supposedly of his dreams, and she made some early reference to potheads being losers. Up through their entire dating, and engagement (which thankfully got called off), he lived a life where he presented to her a straight and clean, but honestly, was smoking in his closet, through a towel, using Ozium, brushing his teeth 15 times a day, using Visine hourly - all because he wanted to be a toker, but also wanted to live with someone who wasn't going to live with a toker. Enough on that, it still pisses me off, and most folks I know may have done that in Prep school, or in your dorm room, but 'adults' are allowed to do what they want in their home, even if that is pulling tubes, eating Haagen Dasz for dinner, or wearing stained boxers.
If you're being you, you do what you need to do. Sometimes what you want versus truly need, but there is a necessity to be true to the self. I don't know about y'all; I'm having a hard enough time living this one life, I don't have time for duplicity! If it works for you, let's be engaged in active relationship; if it doesn't, no offense intended!
Thus, from Simon Weil, to the X-Men, to the closeted-tube-puller. I would offer that "attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity" as long as we understand that it works in both internal and external relationships. What if you transcended this from being about personal relationships to manifest the concept of generosity towards oneself and one’s health and mind? What insight might you gain - what truth might you live? What gift of self can you give your Self?
Stop fronting, stop living up to, stop not provoking, stop stopping - love yourself and use that precious life force we have not to 'be who you should be' but rather 'be who you are meant to be'. The relief of not expending all of your internal energy so that you are a "Raven" and not a "Mystique" serves no one, and diminishes your own ability to be generous - to self, to others, to all.
Give it some thought, tell me what you think, offer another perspective! Just be you! You know what they say, everyone else is taken, and most of them are phoning it in!
Give thanks and praise!
