Birth and destiny
Yesterday Guanaguanare's quote (in the comments)reminded me of something someone told me yesterday.
I had said to him: 'But what does it mean to be Trinidadian?' (in relation to something he had said).
He simply replied: You were given our parents. You were given your place of birth.'
Sometimes when people answer questions in a way that causes the inner asking of more questions, you get more answers. Two things we cannot change are ancestry and birthplace. I see both in the aforementioned quote:
But if you refuse to become a lawyer, if you insist on doing that which you feel to be the true thing for you, which is what you really love to do - it may be writing, painting or having no money and begging - then you have stepped out of the stream, you have broken away from the destiny which your father intended for you. It is the same with a culture or civilization.That is why it is very important that we should be rightly educated - educated not to be smothered by tradition, not to fall into the destiny of a particular racial, cultural or family group, educated not to become mechanical beings moving towards a predetermined end. The man who understands this whole process, who breaks away from it and stands alone, creates his own momentum; and if his action is breaking away from the false towards the truth, then that momentum itself becomes the truth. Such men are free of destiny.
I had said to him: 'But what does it mean to be Trinidadian?' (in relation to something he had said).
He simply replied: You were given our parents. You were given your place of birth.'
Sometimes when people answer questions in a way that causes the inner asking of more questions, you get more answers. Two things we cannot change are ancestry and birthplace. I see both in the aforementioned quote:
But if you refuse to become a lawyer, if you insist on doing that which you feel to be the true thing for you, which is what you really love to do - it may be writing, painting or having no money and begging - then you have stepped out of the stream, you have broken away from the destiny which your father intended for you. It is the same with a culture or civilization.That is why it is very important that we should be rightly educated - educated not to be smothered by tradition, not to fall into the destiny of a particular racial, cultural or family group, educated not to become mechanical beings moving towards a predetermined end. The man who understands this whole process, who breaks away from it and stands alone, creates his own momentum; and if his action is breaking away from the false towards the truth, then that momentum itself becomes the truth. Such men are free of destiny.
posted by Elspeth at Thursday, August 03, 2006
1 Comments:
Yes, and I feel that in your own life you have not avoided being discontented with this path of least resistance. I believe that you've concluded that you can deal with the fear/insecurity that precedes the leaps of faith that it takes to free yourself of destiny. What many people do not want to admit is that the false comfort gained in "going along" masks a most insidious complicity in self/soul/societal mutilation.
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