A MODERN AND WORLDLY PERSPECTIVE
Capable Capable
Capable Capable

You've been cast as the central character
Arnold Siegel —May 19, 2014

Let’s use the art of movie making as a metaphor for producing and directing your life. For our purposes here, the metaphor is especially apt: Autonomy is about acquiring more creative and pragmatic control over the life in which you’ve been cast as the central character. “Cast by whom?” you say, “I never auditioned.” Let me explain.

When asked what we’d like to be when we grew up, most of us in the past would have named a profession. Our means to such goal? The development of skills specific to it. Now, according to much popular media, many of us say that what we want to be is famous. A brand. The means to this goal? Publicity!

Contribution, meaning and fulfillment are probably a better fit for you than are celebrity or notoriety. Still, you (each of us) can’t help but be naturally self-interested and crave to be the center of attention. Your biology wants it that way. Nature insists that you be the focus, that you extend and defend yourself successfully. However, it’s not all bling and glory—not by a long shot.

Long before you realized that it was up to you to determine how you’d direct and produce the extravaganza, the production was already well underway. You were exposed and conditioned, indeed, burdened by inheritances you may not fully understand.  You were expected by nature and by culture’s autonomous imperative to live a vibrant, strong and resounding life.

But think about it. How often do these sometimes hidden and unconsidered conditions make a mess of your script? Think, too, about how much of it has already been written. Written into your body. Written into your perspective, your cognition, and your focus. Written into the thoughts you have, the conduct you exhibit and the choices you make.

How much say did you actually have in shaping the attitude with which you would address the overall experience of life? Did you really know what a struggle it would be? Even if you tried to write a comprehensive script and to steer clear of bad guys, hubris or other pitfalls, you must always inspire, rewrite and adapt.

But there is a way—an artistic license, so to speak—that enables you to be a glorious fit for whatever stage you are now on. I can say this because an exciting and deeply satisfying subjective resonance accompanies your ongoing commitment to author—and enact—an authentic script. It must be authentic. With eyes wide open, the script must confront the bedrock and realities of existence in general and your track record to date with respect to these realities.

It must muster all of your systemic intelligence—all of your wisdom, your joys and yes, all of your failures—in service of the challenge to which you were born: creative and pragmatic control over the life in which you were cast as the central character. In this authorial spirit that makes of every day a celebration, your light shines not only on you but may for others become a beacon of faith, hope and love.

Arnold Siegel is the founder of Autonomy and Life and leader of its Retreat Workshops and Advanced Classes.

Arnold Siegel is the founder of Autonomy and Life and the leader of its
Workshops and Advanced Classes.