What’s a personal mantra or philosophy you live by?
By Andrew R. Duckworth
I am the most selfish person I know. It’s true. And, if we’re all being honest with ourselves, we are all the most selfish persons we know. When it comes down to it, we know ourselves more than anyone else if we allow ourselves to. In a world full of endless distractions, we can be caught into an endless loop of mindless entertainment to the point that we barely recognize ourself. But knowing myself, I can say it with certainty: I am the most selfish person I know, and I say this not because I only really know myself, but because I recognize my shortcomings all too well.
So, as ironic as it might seem having admitted this, my personal philosophy for the moment is that I must shrink. What I mean by this is that I must stop putting myself before others. To say that it is a problem would be an understatement. In fact, for the majority of my life, I have lived a very self-centered life. This is certainly contrary to the life I am called to live being a devoted Catholic. In fact, I am called to minimize the self in most everything. Knowing this, it presents me with a certain dilemma. How does one go on living in the world of today without thinking of self? It’s a good question, perhaps an important question. Yet, despite anxiety of what might come tomorrow or later in the day, I am called to ignore all of this. I am called to minimize self in service to the other, my brothers and sisters, and, by extension, in service to my Heavenly Father.
Do I live out this calling perfectly? Do I reflect this philosophy perfectly? No. I don’t even live it out well. That having been said, if one is to change, one must be confronted with the change that needs to take place. So, I keep this philosophy close and I’m hopeful that when opportunities arise, I put this philosophy to practice.
We live in a self-obsessed world. I have a choice. I can choose to further promote that self-obsession, OR I can choose to decrease the self. While I often make the wrong choice in this matter, I choose to keep this idea close. Because if the idea vanishes entirely, there is little hope that I decrease the self and, thus, continue a philosophy that is, as I see it, destroying us and society from the inside out. I hope to do better. I hope to be better. I hope to help. I hope to get to the point when I do not need the reminder anymore.
