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Sunday, February 7, 2016

Following the Pen to a Conclusion

The moving pen is moving. And nowhere in the definition of a moving pen's purpose does it say that logic, or sense, or even truth, must flow from the pen. It just has to keep moving.

 

Truth is beauty; beauty, truth. So many certainties are crammed into our heads when we are young, and if you are naïve, bookish, or trusting, you actually believe them. You believe your instructors, you believe anyone who says, "Here is the answer." Until, that is, you stop believing, and then you have to examine--one slogan after another, one certainty after another--every single thing you have been told, in order to decide what is true for you and what is not.

 

Notice that now "truth" has become smaller and more personal: what is true for you. Because one of the good things about being human is that we actually get to decide what works for each of us and what does not. Oh, you won't find this written down very often; a lot of institutions would lose power if we all suddenly began to think for ourselves.

 

Another beauty of being human is that we have the power to change our minds and rethink our beliefs, for as long as we are alive. What served us at thirty may not serve us when we are seventy. For one thing, we are, one can only hope, considerably wiser at seventy than we were at thirty, and gathering wisdom allows us—compels us, even—to change our outdated beliefs. Otherwise, what's the point of growing older? I am grateful every day for having lived this long and having changed this much, and I pray that I will live long enough to change and grow even more, as needed.

 

As needed. Take three new ideas a day, or as needed. We get to decide for ourselves what we need for our own growth. I, for example, was once a cynical grouch; but I now understand that our birthright is joy. I don't always embody this understanding, but little marquee lights blaze in the back of my mind to remind me of the joy of joy. Taking a peek at the back of my mind once in a while will refresh the image of that brilliant display of JOY!

 

 
Copyright © 2016 Ann Tudor
 

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