Oscar Wilde once said, “Be yourself, everyone else is already taken”.

It is a call to be the unique and unrepeatable me. There is something very compelling about authenticity. My choices say a lot about me.

How do I look at the world around me?

How I look at the world around me also points to the real me. As a consumer or as a contemplative?

The philosopher Ivan Illich once said, “In a consumer society there are inevitably two kinds of slaves: the prisoners of addiction and the prisoners of envy”.

We are all familiar with consumer envy. The thrill in the chase. The purchase. The possession. The Amazon parcels and gifts we received over Christmas will soon be forgotten in 2022. And we will always want more.

While there is nothing wrong with retail therapy, if we are honest with ourselves we will realise that the thrill soon wears off with time. Things are not all that we are.

We don’t need to be reminded that many of our ecological problems today are due to over-consumption and unsustainable development – an unstoppable moreish approach. But we can also consume our inner selves. Marilyn Monroe once said, “fame doesn’t fill you, it warms you a bit but that warmth is temporary”.  

Image and status

There is something deeply insecure and scary about the fact that we have the potential to reduce ourselves to status, how we are perceived and how positive we feel about ourselves in a given moment. Image and status however exhilarating are not sustainable in themselves. Our sense of well-being cannot depend on something that gives me immediate pleasure.

In contrast, there is an inner peace that comes from going deeper and finding peace from that which I do not need to possess or put in my wardrobe or upload to my Instagram account. It is something deeply personal. This is the attitude of contemplation, a gentler, more holistic and respectful approach. 

Contemplation

Contemplation comes from 2 words which mean together and temple. So when we contemplate we try to experience something by being in some sense immersed in it and as such hope to penetrate to the depths of something as it is.

When we adopt a contemplative attitude, we manage to find the time to be with something – an idea, a presence in front of us, a person talking to us.  As we step into the New Year and we hear the familiar refrain of new resolutions, maybe we could look for a sense of renewal from a more contemplative attitude to life. 

Perhaps we will manage to choose a new direction, and take a more contemplative attitude to ourselves and the world we live in. We could leave the consumerism to one side. Actions change perceptions and vice versa. We can change the way we look at things. 

What does the contemplative attitude to our lives look like? When someone is talking to us, being in that conversation and not in the to-do list that awaits us. In other words, being in and with the people we love. Not seeking something from them. Not seeking to possess them.

When we see something beautiful – a piece of art, a sunrise or sunset, to experience and be in the pleasure of that moment fully. When we are faced with a curveball or a challenge – instead of reacting, blaming, and trying to escape or avoid it – maybe ask ourselves something like  “How can I grow into a better me, both in and through this situation?”

 St Josemaría discovered at one stage a rich and interesting insight:

“understand this well: there is something holy, something divine hidden in the most ordinary situations, and it is up to each one of you to discover it”.

Let’s try and embrace the hidden and the beautiful in our realities and by doing so discover something richer. We were generated and born.  We have not created ourselves. Our greatest sense of authenticity comes from exploring our origins from love to love. Beauty is the sense of presence and existence.