Action and Reaction
On the Indifferent Value of Effort
Who are we, without even knowing it? How many people speak with our voices, think with our minds, quietly guide our beliefs and our actions?
If we dig a little deeper into our identity, we’re likely to find our parents’ convictions, our friends’ preferences, our mentors’ codes of conduct, the faith of our spiritual role models.
We are all aware of this, of course, maybe take it for granted, and don’t realize that our core identity has been molded by countless generations, through the socio-cultural past, farther back in time than we can possibly imagine.
We function as repositories, securing the convictions, knowledge, and moral development that earlier generations deemed essential to preserve and hand down.
Everything we are has been touched by another, sometimes in the present, sometimes across centuries, often against our will, and the voices of our inner council leave and change with time, using our minds like large and rather disorganized meeting halls, where congress is kept in small groups, according to the various topics, priorities, and moods.
Your ancestor from the 1800s and your high school guidance counselor convene to discuss your choice of profession.
Your grandmother confers with your new best friend to help you find the perfect balance of ingredients for your baking.
Your genetic heritage silently impacts your preferences, expressing itself through choices and motivations beyond your conscious awareness.
We unknowingly carry the legacies of our ancestors, encompassing fears, dreams, and biases that persist despite the passage of time and the emergence of new concepts.
Wisdom is kept alive in oral traditions which morphed to adapt to modern and incredibly sophisticated social models.
Centuries of experiences we never had speak through our instincts and get revealed in dreams.
It’s a humbling truth that we are not living, but rather being lived by many. Along with this comes the responsibility towards them and the privilege of embodying their wisdom.
We have been granted the honor to decide which aspects of their traditions, initiatives, and talents we are willing to take on and incorporate into our lives, one which adds profound richness and depth to our perception of reality.
In conclusion, what are the points worth remembering?
- We are many people. They speak with our voice, think with our mind, quietly guide our beliefs and our actions.
- We function as repositories of valuable thought.
- Everything we are has been touched by another, sometimes in the present, sometimes across centuries.
- The voices of our inner counsel leave and change with time, using our minds like large and rather disorganized meeting halls, where congress is kept in small groups.
- We hold our predecessors’ fears, dreams, and biases far past the point when history would have condemned them to oblivion.
- We are not living, we are lived by many, and have responsibilities towards them, as well as the privilege of carrying their wisdom.