• Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

Larry G. Maguire

Weekly articles on LIfe, Work, & The Pursuit of Happiness

  • Start Here
  • Articles
  • Store
    • Basket
    • My Account
  • Podcast
  • Subscribe
  • About
  • Coaching

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.

Filed Under: Philosophy Tagged With: The Daily Article

Author | Larry G. Maguire

I'm Larry G. Maguire, writer and work psychologist focusing on behaviour and performance in the workplacee. I publish the weekly Sunday Letters Journal and work with clients helping them find clarity and direction in work. > Get in touch with me here

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Footer

Read The Sunday Letters Newsletter

Subscribe to the newsletter that discusses life, work, and the pursuit of happiness.

Read Sunday Letters

Copyright Larry G. Maguire © 2023 · Built in Dublin · Be Cool

  • Substack
  • Medium
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • |
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Conditions
  • Contact Larry