"just take the path to Nothing, and go Nowhere until you reach it"

well, i felt badly for writing a post that was not for everyone to read so, imma gonna post another one for everyone.

i was going through some old things today in my humble apartment and ran across an old journal of mine. it was from when i was in high school. it was... almost embarrassing to read it. most of my entries written in that journal back then were, well, just plain embarrassing. but i came across one entry that in the midst of my youthful angst was this quote:

"I have always thought the actions of a man to be the best interpreter of his thoughts."

in the entry i did not write down who said this, but google.com tells me that it was spoken by John Locke. i don't remember where i came across this quote in high school; nor do i remember ever reading John Locke in high school at any length or depth. but, there the quote sits in my journal.

i have to say though, i love this quote. once in university, i got into a "discussion" about the essence of who a person is. my friend, and for the sake of keeping the "innocent" anonymous i'll not mention a name, said that he firmly believed that our actions defined who we are. he gave the example of crimes committed... a person who steals things is a stealer, a person who kills is a murderer, etc. likewise, he opined that a person who performs music is a musician.

this feels a bit like the old paradox of which came first the chicken or the egg, but i think he's a bit correct and a bit incorrect.

what we do is a reflection of what we think and who we are. do our actions have an effect on how we think? i think so. well, maybe a better answer on my part is: i hope they do. but do they have an effect so far as to say that they define us? i hope not. after all, we are human BEINGS, not human DOINGS. and we are not the sum of our parts, as far as i am concerned. but i digress... back to the quote.


i think/believe that our actions are a direct reflection of our thoughts: good, bad, beautiful, ugly.

and i'm gonna tie this in with last weeks post because that topic is still on my mind. i also think that our actions show what we want. i know that circumstance can play as big a part as our thoughts when it comes to actions.

i keep mentioning things a lot of other people say, but "the ability to quote is a serviceable substitute for wit" according to W. Somerset Maugham...

when i went to university my sister wrote me a letter giving me advice about things she had learned during her undergrad. towards the end she wrote that, and this is a paraphrase, people show who they are in the every day things that they do... in how they speak, how they dress, how they brush their teeth, how they walk, etc. i think that overall, our actions show others (and ourselves for that matter) who we really are. i also think that this is an incomplete picture, but it is a glimpse nonetheless.

every day, every interaction and every action is a chance to see who someone is. every day others show us who they are. not in whole, but in part.

any time spent with someone, any text message, any phone call, any conversation, any hug, any kiss, any handshake, ad nauseum is an opportunity. only two things can interrupt these opportunities: not spending time with people or not paying attention. we each have control over both.

so... pay attention.



ssdd,
levi