Most intimate sorrows of man and his difficulties in interpersonal relationships, born of the image (of ourselves) that we project, cultivate, nurture, serve and worship. This is the main source of internal frustrations and fraternal collisions.
This appears to be madness or alienation. But we live this way, between desire and fear. For half our lives, we struggle on the offensive to bring to light, to nourish and “build up” (inflate) our own image (personal prestige, popularity); in the other half, a prey to fear, we struggle on the defensive to preserve that prestige.
The majority of people are not interested in what a person is in him or herself but rather how that person appears to them. The image interests them more than the reality, the lie more than objectivity. And so, they launch out in pursuit of a career of appearances.
For the majority of mortals, there is nothing, more pleasing than to have a splendid image, an image proclaimed and worshipped by the multitudes. Then, they go on confusing and identifying what I am with what I would like to be.
When we adhere (emotionally) to the idealized and illusory image of self, the preoccupation with one’s own image rob us of the joy of living, and is responsible for many of the difficulties of coexistence.
How can we liberate ourselves from those illusions which have given rise to so much personal preoccupation and so much misery? Neither is inner peace or brotherly love possible in such circumstances. A large portion of our energy is wasted on those preoccupations which only serve fantasy.
We have said that the individual is a combination of realities, presided over by a consciousness.If this conscience has the exact notion of its nature, then we have wisdom, that is a vision and a proportional appreciation of reality.. There are three words that are synonymous: objectivity, humility, wisdom.
We must awaken from the dreams of greatness, give up the worship of empty statues, set in motion all our potential to the fullest, and within our limitations to free ourselves from the tyranny of illusions.
Let the kingdom of wisdom and objectivity come. Let in the pure heart which is detached from appearances and freed from fantasies, a heart poor and wise at the same time, because poverty is always wise.
Extracted from the book Come with me, written by Fr. Ignacio Larrañaga
