Tuesday, February 11, 2020
Outside the pretenses
To live with humility, grace, compassion, understanding, is a good way to live. Not apart from the world, but not immersed in its absurdities either.
To see what is there, and comprehend, but to not be fearful or arrogant. To find a good and fulfilling way forward, with tranquility as a constant companion.
So many, so often, strive for fame and riches in an effort to acquire such a satisfying state of being. Yet that state is available at any time, in any situation, simply by untethering from all pretenses.
Yes, prosperity and the respect of others, those things have real value and goodness. Yet if they are nothing but an end in themselves, with no deeper purpose behind them, they destroy rather than enrich.
Can you let go of what you’ve been told you need, and discover the true richness you already have? If so, you’ll be loved for who you are, not merely for who you pretend to be.
Is there any greater peace, any higher fulfillment, than that? Step outside the pretenses, and allow your beauty to be the beauty of life itself.
— Ralph Marston