Brian’s Reflection: Sat/Sun, Aug 30/31, 2008


A (wo)man is a god in ruins. When (wo)men are innocent,
life shall be longer, and shall pass into the immortal,
as gently as we awake from dreams. [brackets mine]

- Ralph Waldo Emerson, who, on this day, 1837, gave
a speech at Harvard “explaining” Transcendentalist
philosophy


I have said before that I don’t believe in the concept “Innocence”. This is because I wish to counter the idea that human beings were, at some mythical point, incapable of evil, of unlovingness. Balderdash. Thinking that human beings were never capable of evil is basically to say that we were not human at some point. Anyway, this shall be an enduring theme of mine, I guess!

Instead of Innocent, let’s say Honest. Once we are able to be honest, ruthlessly honest, about who we are and how we behave, then we are on the way to reflecting the source of our Mystery. Deception will fall away. We will understand that we are “immortal”. We will be “comfortable in our skin”. We will find the resiliency to shift from self-destructive behaviour to the enhancement of our own true humanity and the humanity of others.

“A god(ess) in ruins”. I love it!!

Brian+