The modern human lost their capacity for soul searching. We are so “trapped” by our actions, by the willingness “to do”, to show, “to reach objectives”, “to have”, in such a way that “to be”, “to know ourselves” have become empty words, without any deeper meaning to many. A long time ago, people used to go to the Oracle in Delphi to find out answers to important, essential questions and for advice as well.
I remember a story by Herodot with a king who was about to go to war. Before leaving, he goes see to Pythia and ask if he is going to win the war. Pythia (the high priestess of the Temple of Apollo) tells him that he will be able to measure the field with a string. From this, the king thinks that he is going to win and will be able to conquer the world. Reality was different and the king lost the war, all of his people taken prisoners; himself becoming a slave and made to measure the land with a string.
Why did I bring this story into discussion? Why is it relevant?
Like Herodot’s king, we are not careful anymore with our own being, our own inner self, we do not give ourselves enough time and space for a correct interpretation of what our own being tells us. This profound being of ours knows (it is Pythia who tells and whispers what is right and what is wrong). The character or characters that we play can in fact falsify certain aspects.
We wear different masks, we embody different “personas”- maybe sometimes to withstand certain situations, other times to hide fears, scars, frustrations, weaknesses. In this hide and seek game with ourselves, we lose and cut-off many times exactly the most important person: who we truly are, our true being. This true being becomes Cinderella from the story. We have to accept and not hide our being, to accept to reveal it. We can reveal this Cinderella and take her to another level; with the condition that we have to accept that she is important and that we should pay attention to her.
We suffer a lot of times from a lack of validation and acknowledgement. In fact, others have nothing to validate in us because we represent someone else in our place, one of those characters that we play and not out true being – which is cut-off. Therefore, what should others validate? One of those characters? Or would we like to have our “Cinderella” validated, raised to her appropriate rank?
The key is to go back within ourselves; the person we construct to please the outer world should not work against us, in order for us not to be inadequate.
If we listen to our inner Pythia, if we let our being free from censorship and borders that we ourselves create (and which are in line with the images that we wish to project), then we will be in balance with ourselves; then the strain will diminish and so will the stress, leaving the individual more relaxed, functioning better, more efficient and productive.