Do you feel like an outcast? Like everyone is following the beat of a different drum? Like you're trying to keep up with the rest of the world, but you keep spiraling out of control?
It's difficult to try and figure out who you are when everyone is telling you to be someone else. The media constantly bombards us with our faults and insufficiencies, telling us what we need in order to live up to someone else's social standards. Can we ever fill that void they continue to reaffirm through the encouragement of more self-disdain? The answer of course is "no." There is no amount of products that will fill something that is within.
One of the most empowering statements I've discovered is the Invictus "I am the captain of my fate, I am the master of my soul," by William Earnest Henley. This powerful statement reminds me when everything becomes overwhelming, that the outside world is only temporary. To me, these words affirm that there is no need to try and control our physical self or the outer world. All our power lies within. Trying to change others or the outside world, is a futile effort and will only leave us frustrated and discouraged.
When I wrote Oriana's Eyes I was 15-years-old and felt the weight of life's routine. Did anything I was being taught have any substance? What was the greater truth that everyone seemed to ignore?
It's easy to get caught up in life's various institutions. We get used to our day to day routine and forget the bigger picture. I think the bigger picture, is also the smallest. It is the entire universe, and your singular mind.
Oriana realizes this lies within herself. She can't ignore what everyone tells her is insignificant. In her world, she is told to trust blindly in Odon, but also to treat certain students as less because of their heritage. Oriana doesn't know why she struggles to fit in, she just feels it.
Do you feel that maybe something greater lies within you? Something just waiting to take root and grow? Only you can flourish it into the Great tree that it wishes to become. The people that help you along the way will not discourage you or tell you what your are or are not capable of.
The first greatest step is to ask the question. Any philosopher will tell you that you must keep questioning the world around you in order to keep growing. You decide who you will become. Oriana couldn't keep herself from asking that great question, the one that led her to a greater truth.
If you haven't checked out my previous posts on the Missing Letters from Odon's University, you might want to take a peek! It describes this idea much better than just an explanation.
