“Life is not a matter of creating a special name for ourselves, but of uncovering the name we have always had.” Richard Rohr
Growing up I worried too much about what others thought. Sometimes I try to figure out when that fear began to loose hold on me. I know it took way too long. That’s why I love it when the ‘fear of others‘ disappears in people’s lives. We humans work so hard to impress. We even resort to editing our own story in order to gain more approval. It is a trap that slowly strangles our True Self and covers it in fears, lies and false worth.
Fear of others is actually a struggle for value. If others approve us and applaud our worthy efforts we feel a bit of relief. If they don’t we try harder to prove ourselves worthy. Technology only increases our self deception in order to cloak our unease. We can now resort to twitter and Facebook to create a persona that may but most likely may not be real. “Ah world, look at my most impressive self.” This isn’t much different from the Pharisees parading their goods before the populace in Jesus time. So much of this grandstanding is born out of fear of loss.
Richard Rohr writes extensively about finding the True Self. It is the treasure of great price, for when you find your true self you also find God there, he says. I quoted Richard above because it reminds me of how my third son once said church people treated him differently when they knew who his parents were. I guess we have had quite a lot of exposure to certain circles in Canada because of my travels. Instead of being proud to be counted among the DeWit clan my son resented that they treated him differently when they pieced it together. At first I thought he wasn’t proud enough of his heritage, then it dawned on me that his indignation was good. His feelings told me he was quite aware that he had a name too. And that name included his own story.
Uncovering, dusting off, digging deep, exploration are all good words to use in our pursuit to find this priceless ‘Fear-Take-Away Treasure’, or this immortal diamond as Richard Rohr calls it. To find oneself is to finally realize that our name and our True Self have eternal underpinnings. There is God in our DNA. His fingerprints are all over who we are. Do all to find it, hold onto it, keep it, and don’t loose it ever. And don’t ever go back to the covering of your True Self. You may get lost again. And if you loose it, it is like loosing your soul. Once you have this treasure in your possession the need for constant applause and approval falls to the wayside. It is replaced by a new freedom to live only for one thing, the treasure of you and your maker. That’s priceless. Keep it!
Peter's New Found Paris-dise 