Now that I'm back to the roleplaying world, the most crucial aspect of my current mission on Earth comes to the fore, and that's the study and telling of stories. Yesterday I received the second part of a card reading that dealt specifically with my place as a leader in that endeavor, which highlighted the power I hold in the handling of narratives and the responsibility that it brings, a responsibility that I'm more than willing to assume. At first, when I began exploring this purpose of mine, it was all excitement, wonder and a fair bit of skeptical fright, because I didn't want to believe blindly in what I was experiencing, the crossover of fantasies, fictions and material reality. As years went by and my spiritual process deepened, however, the truth of it could no longer be denied.
Between 2020 and 2022 I went through profound soul-searching and turned my talent for narrative analysis on myself. I seriously and intensely questioned my identities and found them to be merely useful markers to navigate this life but insufficient to manifest what I truly wanted, individually or even as a whole. I realized I'm not a Storyteller, a Shaman, a Venezuelan, a Latino. I'm not even Javier or a Man. All of those things were illusions, constructs, skins that I wear, words that define some aspect of the role I perform; none of them are my true self. The more strength I give to any of them, the less I can know myself.
As the Rune below says, identities are elements of the Ego, characters that we play in the game of life. They're useful tools, but they can't reveal the nature of our souls, quite the opposite, they befuddle us, making genuine insights harder to gain if we attach too strongly to them. We must always remain separate from them, like clothing that remains in our wardrobe until we have a need of it. Catholic, Muslim, Taoist, Atheist, Marxist, Capitalist, Vegan, Heterosexual, Transgender, Psychologist, Architect, Human... all of these things are merely concepts, stories. They work at a surface level but tell us very little about what's going on underneath the skin, the complex interplay of our emotions and thoughts, the vast array of genetic and ancestral prompts that constitute our personalities, the true place we occupy in the tapestry of creation. None of them strengthen us or empower our will, and the more we try to preach about them, the more offended we feel when they're trespassed, the less we comprehend their function in our reality.
We dress up because exposure hurts. We play characters because we're afraid of being naked and vulnerable. There's nothing inherently wrong with that, but if we look in the mirror and all we see are these labels and markers, then we're in trouble, because that means that we can no longer detach ourselves enough as to question our motivations, behaviors, urges and attitudes. That makes us prone to manipulation, addiction and obsession. We may end up pledging our loyalty to causes, activities and people that apparently support the principles of our chosen identities, it's why so many are willing to come to the defense of politicians, celebrities and religious leaders found guilty of all sorts of transgressions regardless of how damning the evidence might be, because they see any accusations against them as a personal assault. That's the root of all prejudices and we're all susceptible to it at any point of our lives.
I exhort you to put your beliefs and identities to the test. Don't let yourselves become too comfortable with them, too familiar with their sound; don't let them become a fixed landmark in your daily routines and most importantly, check yourselves when you find that you're trying to impose them on others. Our Egos defend themselves by crafting certainties, and certainties have the tendency of becoming immovable, hard to bend and even harder to shed. If you wish to flow, if you want to be flexible and open to change, you can't get enamored with ideas that, by their very definition, are impermanent and inconsistent.
Rune of the Day: Isa
Identities are merely characters that we play, they cannot tell us who or what we are; just as a screen is not the source of light, an image is not the source of meaning. The more identities you collect, the less you know your true self; dismantle labels, epithets, titles, shapes and colors lest your confusion increases in a context of growing demands. The function of a pillar is to support a building; seek out the central principle, the core idea in every belief system and ask yourself: what is the structure that I am supporting by believing this? Fear breeds its own kind of comfort, it will always stop your progress; only by willingly pushing forward into the unknown are you able to break through the ice of inaction and expand.