What do I believe? PART 1

All creatures are dignified, worthy of honour and respect.

I believe that life’s purpose lies in the making of meaning. Or more fully, meaning is made in the making of meaning. I do not need a discrete purpose or focus in my life, though I recognise and respect that many people do.

I know myself to be self-divided, that I grow by confronting my own inconsistencies, in the knowledge that I will never overcome them all. I believe this to be true of all people and think this ability, to believe in things that can’t be certain or that may be wrong, is essential to achieving (or even really attempting) anything in our lives, but is also a weakness through which our worst fears may become the ugliest of prejudices. An inability to act in the shadow of conflicting ideas is anxiety.

“We are, I know not how, double in ourselves, so that what we believe, we disbelieve, and cannot rid ourselves of what we condemn.”
― Michel de Montaigne

Nothing has to be done. This belief governs my attitude to deadlines, my feelings about life’s ultimate purpose, my approach to work and my desire to avoid having a career, my relationships (it is the starkest difference between myself and most of the people I adore), and many other aspects of my life.