The Half-lived Life

We were all raised in a world where ‘ordinary’ was the accepted norm. There were expectations of school, college, marriage, kids, job, retirement and old age. We could excel in certain subjects, but there was a ‘standard’ to which we all were to abide.

As different as we might have thought ourselves to be, conformity was a part of our lives from day one. There was the school to attend, the little wife or hubby to find, the little house and the kids to bring about, the job to be had, and all these things were almost identical to what our friends acquired.

We were born to be ordinary. To ‘fit in’ and not be too conspicuous. So we advance down life’s path listening to nothing but our own voice, playing our assigned role on our given stage. For some, that is the entire story, but for others somewhere along the walk there is a supernatural nudge, a little voice that hints that there might be something more than playing along with a script that has been written for you. Something that brings to light the possibility that your life up until now has been wrong. An indication that if continued as is, your life will be ‘half-lived’.

But the concept itself – of a life on a higher plain – is crazy. But . . . it doesn’t leave. In some esoteric way it is too important for you to discard it. So it lingers, is tinkered with, played with, and its importance is actually considered. In that process, however, a war breaks out between your ego and the Infinite. It is realized that in order for the ‘ordinary’ to be left behind, your ego has to be diminished, forgotten.

This war is very seldom won by the individual. Not even close to one percent of the time. The ego and the individual are the same. To ‘win’ this battle one must give up, lose, throw in the towel, sever all ties with what a person thinks he or she ‘knows’. Following is a quote from Descartes pertaining to this epiphany . . .

‘In order to reach the truth, it is necessary at some point in one’s life to rid one’s self of ALL the opinions one has ever received and to rebuild one’s entire system of knowledge from the very foundation.’

‘Half-lived’ is such a teaser. It gets the job done but in reality it could and should be ‘the ten-percent lived life’ or ‘one-percent lived life’. Unfortunately I know the outcome here. With rare exceptions everyone will keep on – pushing for the ego. Depending on some ‘learned’ thing in the past as their infinite crutch.

For almost everyone, the only foundation they will ever know is their ego. It is their safety net, their intelligence and all that they believe in – but it may all be wrong. Sure, let’s go back to ‘fitting in’.

Don’t disappoint the ordinary, even though it keeps hidden – the other half of your life.