Published On: Fri, Feb 1st, 2013

What Edition Of Your Life Are You Living?

By Dr. Synesio Lyra, Jr.

Although you have only one life to live, I firmly believe that every human being goes through several editions in the construction of that life in the world. The home environment, the training received, the personal interactions leading to new acquaintances and to long-term friendships, are all significant factors in making who you are becoming. Find your passion and develop it!

And here is the key: humans are in the process of perpetual becoming. The fast pace at which life is lived today, and the manifold, varied experiences one faces all the time, are contributing factors in making you who you are at any given moment.

Sometimes personal preferences will lead you in a certain posture for quite some time. Your unique presentation of self to friends and acquaintances will also elicit varied responses from people you trust and whose opinions you respect.

All this will, besides other factors, will cause you to choose one of the many editions of your life as the preferred one for an event, a new encounter, and the enormous variety of appearances you have to make before different segments of society.

I never forget a phrase from T.S. Eliot in one of his poems, where he assures, “There will be time, there will be time to prepare a face to meet the faces we shall meet.” Although each individual remains the same internally, one’s exteriority can vary depending on the circumstances of the moment, how one feels at a particular situation, and what is expected of you in terms of appearance, action, reaction and additional factors in a variety of settings and occasions!

That’s what I mean by an “edition” of your life which you may choose to project, be that for a moment, for a day, a week, or a much lengthier period of time. You always remain the same but you project that which may make you feel better, as well as fit the particular situation you are in!

As a pre-Socratic philosopher from Greece suggested so very long ago, people never step into the same river twice, because each time one goes into a river, the waters are not the same since they are constantly moving, and other conditions of the river have equally been altered.

In the same fashion, one never meets the same person twice because all the experiences acquired since the previous encounter, all the new thoughts permeating one’s mind, and one’s frame of mind has greatly changed.

The key elements for all to consider are that, as life goes on, we should not merely allow it to happen to us; there’s much that we can do to improve our lot continually, making us better each new day than we were the day before. Seeking wisdom from God and with personal determination, this is a good path to follow, a meaningful and necessary adventure throughout your earthly trajectory!

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