Becoming A Projection

Plato was a rather wise chap, and he said something that I think is fitting: The unexamined life is not worth living. Now, I've said some fairly important things in my life, but this is probably tops a lot of them off, simply because it is true for all situations.

Here's what I believe. I believe that everyone has a picture of themselves that they wish they were. Maybe you're really wealthy, or a confident person, or very talented, or clever, or witty but whatever it is we all have that picture in the back of our mind, and we use it as a yardstick when we judge ourselves.

Is this a problem? Or is it a part of life? Well, I think it's not only part of life, but can be a good thing or a bad thing. You see, change is almost always as a direct result of being unhappy with the current situation, and if you use this picture as a benchmark, and you're not living up to your requirements, there's likely to be some sort of repercussion.

Now, in the case of an unexamined life, namely one where the person has no idea where he or she stands and doesn't know how to make life any better, this would most likely be a bad thing. But in the case of someone who has examined their life, this could and in fact would most likely be a good thing, motivating the person toward what they really want from life in general.

It can also be a bad thing, especially if a person is very unhappy with themselves and has an extremely high standard, which they believe to be unobtainable. In this case I believe that the person is likely to either become extremely despondent toward life in general, or will try to project the image of themselves they like toward the world.

Example, I recently met a very nice young lady. She's had some bad experiences in life, and now has closed herself off from the world. I spoke to her for quite a long time, and she really likes to come across as this really hard person, who doesn't care about what other people think, but in actual fact she does care, deeply. And based on what I've seen, she's a very caring and loving person with a very big heart, but she has clearly been hurt by people and as a result doesn't want to expose herself again.

Now, in this case she also has an extremely difficult picture of herself to live up to, and she clearly feels as if she will never be able to live up to these expectations, so instead of pushing herself to become more, she is merely projecting a different picture of herself onto the world. A picture which is below what she currently is, and completely opposite to what she really wants.

At this point, a person has two choices, either continue to project this false image, or push themselves to become what they really want. Which choice is the right one? Which choice will bring more fulfillment? To be honest, I don't know. The immediate choice is the one which is perceived as the right choice, to grow into what you want, but does that ensure happiness? Probably not. So which is right?

At the end of the day, your perception can be manipulated, and in fact changes all the time, and as a result 'right' and 'wrong' follow suite. Will we ever know? Quite possibly, but the answers are never just going to be given to us. They need to be found, dug out in the same way silver is mined [according to Proverbs 2], and their reward is the greatest.

So, what do you wish you were? Can it be done? Or are you happy to pretend? And what are you searching for? Riches or wisdom? Which one do you value more?