IMAGINE
Imagine you are suddenly self reliant
without a husband, child, or wife,
a telephone, a cat, a client.
What happens to the story of your life?
And what becomes of you without a story?
Interview yourself. Your story’s you!
The self-reliant live on inventory.
When it’s used up then they are, too.
Robinson Crusoe is the most famous example of self-reliance in Western literature. But he wasn’t completely self-reliant. He survived on inventory—tools from the wreckage of his ship and ideas he remembered from his life in civilization. Fortunately, he was rescued before he went bonkers, which he would have done if he lived alone long enough. When a man lives in self-reliant isolation, he loses track of his language and his story. And without his story, there is nothing to him—nothing coherent. Below is a painting by Paul Klee that to me represents what happens to a man who loses his story. He comes apart.
The painting is called “Contemplation.” Below is Klee’s self-portrait.
NOTE: Aids to Reflection is on sale at Amazon in both Kindle (2.99) and Print (3.99) format. Only a few of the illustrations in this blog version are included in the Kindle and Print formats.
Paintings and Poems 