Stay True
quote | 1 image + reflections on The Reality of Self Love
Stay true to what’s true in you.
In writing, web design, and other forms of communication, creating something clear and simple takes time. A lot more time than one would realize. It’s like hitting a hole-in-one in golf. It looks so simple on the surface, but there was a hell of a lot that led up to that simplicity. To make something simple and clear, you have to hone down the universe of possibilities to see what is essential. This quote is one of those occasions — as it came into focus after almost a year of pondering the nature of self-love.
In 2019 I hosted a panel discussion at the Science and Nonduality (SAND) conference on the topic of self-love. That initial idea grew into an interview series called The Reality of Self Love, and the website it’s hosted on, Our Awakening World. I was actively interviewing and producing the series and website for about six months. During that time I experienced a deep transformation through my engagement in the inquiry and through the beautiful conversations with my “Voices of Wisdom” panel.
Finally, it was time to let people know about it. And I needed to come up with a subtitle. Easier said than done! Two weeks went by before the eureka moment: The Reality of Self Love: Staying True to What’s True In You. Ah yes, that’s it. That’s what self-love is about. That’s what I mean by it, anyway. That statement holds up along the whole path. It carries through the scrutiny of some enlightenment people — “You think you have a self? you lowly citizen.” And it’s relevant to the actual need of numberless sweet souls who could really just use a simple dose of the plain old “self-love” medicine.
Even as I write this reflection, and re-ponder the meaning of that statement, “Stay true to what’s true in you,” I feel the beautiful, natural gravitational pull of self-love / Self Love. It calls me to be centered in my body and rooted in the depth of my being. Self-love is that which calls us home, to the ever deeper realization, embodiment, and honoring of that which we truly are, and all that becomes the answer to the question, “Who am I?”
❤ 2021 | Maja Apolonia Rodé
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1MBC-012
text | 1800 words — beauty as the interaction between perceiver and object
I wrote the essay below back in 1989, sharing my original ideas in an assignment for a Philosophy of Art class. Even after all these years, I don’t think I’ve read or heard this perspective on the nature of beauty shared elsewhere. Enjoy!