The poet and philosopher David Whyte observes that humans seem to have the unique quality to resist being who we are.
As far as we know, mountains don’t struggle to be mountains. Dogs do not appear to wrestle with what it does or does not mean to be a dog. From what we can tell, a Maple tree does not wish it were a Birch or a beaver instead. Clouds are clouds. Grass is grass.
We, on the other hand, can refuse to be ourselves. We can pretend to be someone else. In fact, we can get so good at pretending to be someone we’re not that it ceases to become an act and we fool ourselves into thinking we really are the person we’re pretending to be.
Humans have a task which no other part of creation shares: to move past the fear of who we really are and to stand quietly present to our reluctance to be here. Now. Compassionately.
What we stand apart from solidifies. What we embody begins to change into something else.
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