A response to Prickly Oxheart
Three essays by Prickly Oxheart and my response:
- What if Everything You Were Told About Happiness is Wrong?
- Quit Pleasing the Machine
- Block Your Exits
My thoughts:
Authenticity has a risk. One may replace slavery to the machine with slavery to one's passions or whimsy. We are, quite frequently, as I think Jordan Peterson said in one of his lectures: "a terrible employee and an even worse boss." When a marriage gets difficult, is it authentic to abandon it, or does one embrace one's earlier commitment "for better or worse" to find a way through? What are we seeking freedom from? From social expectations, sure. But how much more frequently are we our own tormentors?
"The glory of God is a man fully alive." - Saint Irenaeus
Another perspective on authenticity is "to become the best version of yourself." Which means that authenticity has moral constraints in addition to the practical. Even an aesthete has an aim. In seeking freedom, the question must be asked, free to do what?
Considering toddlers as a model, two Biblical quotes come to mind:
"Unless you come to me as one of these children...."
"When I became a man, I put away childish things."
Another Christian paradox.
I think, yes, we must approach The Creator like a child, grateful, trusting, seeking guidance. But with ourselves, we must exercise maturity. To the Eternal, we are mere children, but among humans, our goal is the wisdom of the aged. Hopefully this all comes to the same place--an appreciation for life in all its complexity and turmoil.
To that end, blocking the exits, embracing the present moment, finding joy in the difficult, requires embracing every moment, every circumstance, every difficulty as a gift from our heavenly Father, for our benefit. It is insufficient to merely avert our gaze from temptation, we must have something brighter to turn towards. "You're going deep into whatever you've been running from."
Yes!
But not with gristle and grit, but with love.