What is the myth that's choking your possibilities? Brace yourself because this may cause a tremor in your mental foundations. The myth is: this is who I am. It's an illusion called me and expresses itself in an artificial colour palette of 'I am such-and-such' and 'I am so-an-so'. This collectively perpetuated idea is one depicted as the story of me.
Marianne Williamson, author and spiritual activist, explores this myth in her world-renowned poem “Our deepest fear” from another perspective. She writes “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.” Have you had glimpses of that power and possibility and hesitated or stepped back into the familiar? Who hasn’t? This is exactly what the myth does to us. It binds us to history known also as the familiar. I call it the familiar zone. I find comfort zone doesn’t quite capture the dilemma we face.
Exciting news... You can free yourself from this apparently permanent personality pandemic. The myth can be likened to a prison cell capturing your spirit and body from inner and outer growth. And the irony is that you are the prisoner, the guard and the warden. The prisoner is the victim stuck in the solitary confinement of their habitual thinking. The guard is the ego holding them in the cell because safety is guaranteed by staying within boundaries of the known. Meanwhile, the warden is the all-powerful and trusting director willing in every moment to free the prisoner on the promise of good behaviour governed by a future vision. Time for your great escape.
In an article featured in the U.S. Sun titled “Was the trojan horse a true story?”, the finding was that “unfortunately, many if not all historians have come together and decided that the Trojan horse story was not true.” One thing the experts did agree on was that Troy did exist. What’s fascinating to me is that mixed within this myth is truth and fabrication. Our personal stories have a similar design. Whilst outer conditions and history reveal facts, meaning is a result of personal interpretation. And usually this is a delightfully palatable concoction of reality, perception, biases and assumptions. Only later on, you experience indigestion. The question I have for you is, what in your ‘fixed’ personality is a trojan horse and what is Troy?
When we look at the etymology of the word personality, we find “persona” meaning mask. Our limiting masks were formed by loss, wounding and all painful events. Our internal psychological mechanisms kick in to save us from suffering and we form scars that can define us. Whilst I would never diminish the gravity of trials people have faced, I would only compassionately offer this idea: history does not define destiny. Personality is the myth that suspends potential. Paradoxically, we live by myth so you may as well invent one that inspires and captivates you. Replace this is who I am with this is who I could be.