Everything I've written before this has been shite.
"Be yourself" is the dumbest advice you've ever heard. It forces you to form tiny limited thoughts and conceptions of who you are. Which is all fine and well except that those will simply be tiny limited thoughts and conceptions. They won't be who You actually are.
Gurus and sages play a fun little trick here on those who tend toward limiting themselves in this way by prescribing further limitations that your behavior and self-concept must be such and such, usually tending toward purity and piety, if you are to attain the Truth of Who You Are. This technique quiets the mind, and removes objects of attention. Fair enough. But this has nothing to do with who You are.
You are your attention, whether it is on your beautiful spouse and children, a pile of vomit, a gorgeous sunset, a hard rockin' heavy metal dirge, a fabulous dream, the quiet blackness of unconsciousness, the syllable Om, or the singular fact of Being. Nothing can change that you are, currently, your attention. No object of attention can increase or diminish that.
Except perhaps death. But I wouldn't really know, 'cause I'm not dead. Yet. I'm in a live form, so of course I'll get to find out soon enough. Anyone reading this who's dead, please let me know whether attention has increased or diminished, okay?
But anyway, quit limiting who you are to your concept of yourself. You don't have to be NewAge-y. You don't have to be Hippie. You don't have to be Granola. You don't have to be Social. You don't have to be Hermetic. You don't have to, to be Yourself.
Quit limiting who you are to who you think your parents taught you to be. You don't have to be the Frightened Child. You don't have to be the Overachiever. You don't have to be the Loser. You don't have to be the Bad One. You don't have to, to be Yourself.
Quit limiting who you are to who you think the world forces you to be. You don't have to be Corporate Drone. You don't have to be Super Activist. You don't have to be Helpless Victim. You don't have to be Misfit or Outcast. You don't have to, to be Yourself.
Quit being yourself. Quit trying so hard.
Be your attention, whatever objects upon which You choose to place it, until death do you part.
Everything I've written before this has been shite.
