Being Born an Individual

“You have to avoid being just one of the crowd and instead take the chance of being born an individual.” from Dark Nights of the Soul by Thomas Moore

How hard is it to change directions in life, to make adjustments, to recreate oneself? We become accostumed to what has been part of our routine and stability ignoring the fact that in time we have become stagnant, unhappy and unsatisfied. In three words, We Stop Growing(WSG). To pretend to live our life in the same manner all the time is not logical. Our daily experiences and challenges transform us into a more developed and whole individual.

Dark nights plunges us into the depths of our being pressing us into exploring what needs to be changed or revealed. For years we have gone along with the social circles and what is expected of us. We learn quickly how to integrate ourselves with the rest of society, which is good, but in the process we forget how not to lose our individuality. Individuality based on our self-knowledge along with well rooted human and spiritual principles are the key to our well-being and happiness.

“Speaking of human nature also reminds us that there is a unity and solidarity belonging to the whole human race. For this reason, man is to be considered “in the full truth of his existence, of his personal being and also of his community and social being” (Encyclical Redemptor hominis, n. 14).” excerpt from MAN’S DIGNITY STEMS FROM HIS SPIRITUAL NATURE

Some people manage to make manifest their individuality sooner than others, like Albert Einstein who at 15 years old realized that he had to make his own way in the world. I believe that’s the reason why he was able accomplish so much and benefit society with his own individual development; because he began to live early on, the life destined to him.

It is a shame that most of us spend half our life before we find ourselves before the path we need to decide to walk on. When life becomes unbearable because we have denied our self-realization we often find ourselves at a crossroads, in that moment our whole being screams to be born again. It’s the divine calling us to become who we were meant to be before is too late. It is the awakening from the numbness created by a life full of everyone’s goals and dreams but our own.

I truly believe that education should be based upon the Liberal Arts, in it our minds are developed to analyze, absorb and integrate our individual human capabilities given to us by God into whatever field our work will contribute and ultimately benefit humanity.

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Clary Lopez, author of Simplicity, Richness of Life