Authenticity

by Pat Antonopoulos

There is that cliche visual of rays leaving the center...like a sun flash-opening the dark. Maybe the reverse is just as powerful. Maybe small and separate bits finally reach a place where illumination bursts into a powerful awareness.

Authenticity.
Not "genuine article" authenticity as in name brand shoes, purses or whatever product commands the current highest market place dollar. But authenticity of what makes us individuals, what makes us genuinely who we are.

A few of the most recent rays opening the core have been the movie, The Soloist, a few hours at House of Menuha, a recent and fairly major set-back, a phone conversation with a stranger, a developing conflict that was both business and personal and a calming and insightful conversation with my oldest son.

Somehow these bits and pieces fit right into my personal weirdness of the week. And, even though I am writing this, I have no idea where it should go--- or how to find the last period for the last sentence. But I absolutely know it has to do with judging others and the measures by which we find them lacking. I absolutely know it has to do with a belief that a judgement has to reach both ways if it has claim to authenticity. A negative evaluation of another person just evaporates into vapor if we allow ourselves a pass on the same behaviors.