Possible Selves
"Alice laughed. 'There's no use trying,' she said. 'One can't believe impossible things.'
I daresay you haven't had much practice,' said the Queen. 'When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast." - Lewis Carroll
It is the task of the dreamer, the visionary, to create visions of yourself in possible futures. It is the duty of the will worker to align the current self with the possible future self.
These possible future selves form from the debris left over from other shattered possible futures that never were, without and sometimes despite our own preferences. They can accumulate mass over time, and without our careful stewarding, will become unwieldy with the weight of un-sought-after conviction. It is possible to discover oneself aspiring to become something abhorrent, and this is one of my worst fears.
These possible selves are not only what we aspire to be, but also what we might become. They orbit our current actual reality of the self.
We could say that one life goal is to accumulate all of the matter that orbits our current actual self, becoming the same as what we aspire to be and also all that we could be.
The dreamer desires this outcome, but at the same time spews forth matter away from the current actual self into the orbiting mass. The dreamer shapes this mass into new possible selves, full of hope. This is a risk though, as circumstances may intervene to shape the future, and aspirations accommodate to the new reality as it takes shape.
I find it more difficult to spew forth my current actual self into the chaos of what might be. I don't know if it is simple age, as if gravity is pulling all of my matter together whether I like it or not. And whether or not I'm right, I understand this spewing forth as a sacred act of the dreamer. It is a lessening of the current actual self in an act of hope and will to boldly forge a better world.
Right now I'm not happy with my current actual self, nor several of my possible future selves. My desire is to lessen my current actual self, freeing potential into the void shattering the possible futures that orbit me closest. I will to reshape that mass into something more beautiful, and allow that beauty to fall into me as it becomes me.
I daresay you haven't had much practice,' said the Queen. 'When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast." - Lewis Carroll
It is the task of the dreamer, the visionary, to create visions of yourself in possible futures. It is the duty of the will worker to align the current self with the possible future self.
These possible future selves form from the debris left over from other shattered possible futures that never were, without and sometimes despite our own preferences. They can accumulate mass over time, and without our careful stewarding, will become unwieldy with the weight of un-sought-after conviction. It is possible to discover oneself aspiring to become something abhorrent, and this is one of my worst fears.
These possible selves are not only what we aspire to be, but also what we might become. They orbit our current actual reality of the self.
We could say that one life goal is to accumulate all of the matter that orbits our current actual self, becoming the same as what we aspire to be and also all that we could be.
The dreamer desires this outcome, but at the same time spews forth matter away from the current actual self into the orbiting mass. The dreamer shapes this mass into new possible selves, full of hope. This is a risk though, as circumstances may intervene to shape the future, and aspirations accommodate to the new reality as it takes shape.
I find it more difficult to spew forth my current actual self into the chaos of what might be. I don't know if it is simple age, as if gravity is pulling all of my matter together whether I like it or not. And whether or not I'm right, I understand this spewing forth as a sacred act of the dreamer. It is a lessening of the current actual self in an act of hope and will to boldly forge a better world.
Right now I'm not happy with my current actual self, nor several of my possible future selves. My desire is to lessen my current actual self, freeing potential into the void shattering the possible futures that orbit me closest. I will to reshape that mass into something more beautiful, and allow that beauty to fall into me as it becomes me.