With a stranger, I have a passing conversation regarding a documentary about Gabor Maté. My father recommended the documentary. I originally pointed my father in the direction of Maté when I picked up In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts in a house where my daughters were catsitting. And so it goes…
This stranger, too, has coincidentally just seen the documentary. We’re standing outside the post office, talking, the afternoon sun bright in our eyes. The documentary is about drama and authenticity. I ramble on about authenticity, how I once considered an authentic life something like enjoying cheese, whether it was artisan cheese or Velveeta, just really leaning into life. What an utterly superficial understanding of authenticity, I muse.
What about doubt? What about fear?
This morning, fog lies in the valley, forerunner of fall. Authentic as all get-out.
“You may do this, I tell you, it is permitted. Begin again the story of your life.”
― Jane Hirshfield
Stony Soil Vermont 
So….you bring us to the edge, mentioning the misapprehension of “an authentic life”, and then leave us hanging?
Where do we find the denouement?
Next installment.
OK! Looking forward to it. Reminds me of this Virginia Wolff quote:
“Having asked then of man……what life is….and grown no wiser….(for did we not pray once in a way to wrap up in a book something so hard, so rare, one could swear it was life’s meaning?) back we must go and say straight out to the reader who waits…… to hear what life is – Alas we don’t know.” – Virginia Woolf in ORLANDO
I wait with bated breath.
That’s a great quote!
Love those random conversations with strangers. Maybe none of us are strangers really.
Good point, but maybe none of us really are….
Looking forward to the next instalment.
I look forward to the next installment, as well.
I read your blog, Brett Ann, and am gladdened by your authenticity. I appreciate a view where you contemplate and savor yours, you note others doing the same with theirs.
I’m so grateful to hear from all of you! 🙂