FIELD NOTES: The Alchemy of Agency
A meditation on the choice between victim and master, and the courage it takes to admit we've been fooling ourselves.
"One can have no smaller or greater mastery than mastery of oneself"
In fields a miraculous stone rests upon another, shaping a "T-like structure." Torn loose from a monstrous rock that bends a frightful shadow.
At birth threatened yet beautifully exposed, it glorifies distant travelers, wild animals looking for refuge. What seasons may come, it fights to flourish another day.
Rain turns into snow and snow into hail. Purified for they are tutors of the universe minus thirst. They harden the stone and vanish like clouds in the sky. Thus restoring the surface’s balance.
The eerie rock howls, turns cold towards the innocent stone: "How can one be so selfish, ignore one's pain?" The stone flinches, sympathises by relieving the rock of dirt.
The wind blows, sets the stone free. The rock weeps louder, begging the stone for more. The stone indulges and suffers the load. Before it can recover, new demands follow.
Nature saddens with the miraculous stone growing dim. The precious whole on the edge of survival while the rock’s burden knows no bounds. So another's "luck" resets the cry for attention, the blame of selfishness until the stone lies broken.
A bridge burned on both sides, blinded by the power of self-realisation. The rock possessed by insecurity, the stone foolishly sacrificed, for there is no selfish part in mastery, other than potent attraction of life. As Leonardo da Vinci once said, "one can have no smaller or greater mastery than mastery of oneself."
Now close your eyes and try picturing yourself as the miraculous stone: What does it reap?
The victim sees life as a series of things that happen to them. The master sees life as a series of choices they make in response. The space between those two mindsets is where all our power lies.
My question for our community is this: In what specific area of your life are you currently telling yourself a victim's story? And what is one small, difficult choice you can make this week to fire that character and reclaim your role as the author?
I look forward to reading your reflections in the private members' discussion.
Trust the hunch. Find the story.
Antoine