We like to think we control ourselves, that we are our own masters, that we are not slaves to another being, an ideology, an object.
That’s what we might want. Reality is different.
Human beings must serve something greater than themselves–or at least something they think and live as though it is greater than themselves.
As we become more aware of what we are and what we are not, the burdens of ignorance, limitations, imperfections, and plain stupidity on our souls and our lives become stark and heavy. In each moment of decision, small or great, we instinctively reach out to something else, something stronger, better, greater, something more valuable or more admired, perhaps. We reach out for assurance, direction, a sense of foundation from which to exist and continue to exist.
That is why what or who we love controls us. Why what we fear becomes our master, what we admire moulds us, what we shun limits and guides us, what we hope in determines the way we live now. And it goes on.
The catch is that we choose what to hate, and what to love. What to follow, and what to leave behind. What to look up to, and what to sneer at.
In essence, you are free to become the slave of a master of your own choosing–but a slave you must become, for you are not enough unto yourself. You cannot control your own desires all the time; you do not understand yourself fully; you did not bring yourself into existence nor could you keep yourself alive forever.
It’s not an easy truth to swallow, and I’m still learning what it means. But goodness, does it make one humble when one thinks upon it.