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Be A Light Unto Oneself

15th May 2020 by Larry G. Maguire Leave a Comment

A couple of years ago I wrote, kill your fucking heroes.

It was an invitation to sever ties with the fictional characters to whom we have assigned reverence.

These fictions come in all forms; religions, governments, corporations, business leaders, sports people, cultural celebrities, gurus, and so on.

They are not the people and authorities we think they are.

They are concepts, psychological structures, institutions of power to whom we have abdicated responsibility.

Where can I go?

How long am I allowed to be out?

What is safe, what is not?

How much can I earn?

Am I allowed to say this?

What is healthy, can I buy this?

Responsibility for oneself has been lost.

Jiddu Krishnamurti almost fifty years ago said,

something has happened to humanity, to the human being. Seeing all that, the chaos, the suffering, the extraordinary sense of violence and brutality in the world… it becomes absolutely necessary that one be a light to oneself, not depending on anybody, psychologically. One has to be, totally, a light to oneself

It requires becoming lost, isolated, thrown out from the institutions of thought that bound our reality.

There's no other way.

It's not easy, it's hard, uncomfortable. It brings us to the edge of the cliff, face to face with our own annihilation.

So the choices are; go back to that, kill myself, or kill all of that.

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Filed Under: Philosophy Tagged With: The Daily Article

Author | Larry G. Maguire

I'm Larry G. Maguire, writer, small business owner and psychology graduate from Dublin. I publish the weekly Sunday Letters newsletter on life, work, and the pursuit of happiness. I promise No Spam. No Hard Sell. No Bullshit. Just good quality content. > Get in touch with me here

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