The
Rational Argumentator
Locus of Identity
There comes a time when, in his mind,
Each person has himself defined
And henceforth shall his job construe
Either as being it or having it to do.
Both ways will suit your present role,
But when events beyond control
Shall strike, for no fault of your own,
And bring the threat of the unknown,
Then how these changes impact you
Depends on what you are and what you do.
If you are X, and X must fall,
Then you will be deprived of all
That you have built yourself to be –
Indeed, a great calamity.
Though much ability remains in you,
You but lament what you can no more do.
If you become your job, and it is lost,
Then you shall pay too high a cost
In sanity and strength that need not wane
If only you could your esteem maintain
And see that your work is not you;
It is but what you chanced to do.
Change is the guise of opportunity,
And wise is he who can achieve immunity
To the unceasing flux of all conditions
By broadening his own ambitions
And seeing that no path is his by fate,
But rather, he can readily migrate.
What he did yesterday today he needs not do,
And if he must, he’ll build his skills anew.
And what are you, if not your job?
You are your brain’s thoughts, your heart’s throb,
Your day-to-day awareness and your will,
Your wish to learn and every single skill
You have amassed from thousands of tasks –
And if you must, you’ll put on any masks
Your job requires, but they will not be you.
They’re a mere slice of what you do.
You have a whole external world to win
If your identity stays stably within.
G. Stolyarov II
is an actuary, science fiction
novelist,
independent philosophical essayist, poet, amateur mathematician,
composer, contributor to Enter Stage Right,
Le
Quebecois Libre,
Rebirth of
Reason, and the
Ludwig von Mises Institute,
Senior Writer for The Liberal Institute,
former weekly columnist for GrasstopsUSA.com,
and Editor-in-Chief of The
Rational Argumentator,
a magazine championing the principles of reason, rights, and progress.
Mr.
Stolyarov also publishes his articles on Helium.com
and Associated
Content
to assist the spread of rational ideas. He holds the highest Clout
Level (10) possible on Associated Content and
is one of Associated Content's Page View Millionaires.
Mr. Stolyarov has also
written a science fiction novel, Eden against the
Colossus,
a non-fiction treatise, A Rational
Cosmology,
and a play, Implied
Consent. You
can watch his YouTube Videos.
Mr. Stolyarov can be contacted
at gennadystolyarovii@yahoo.com
Click here to return to TRA's Issue CLXXXVIII Index.
Learn about Mr. Stolyarov's novel, Eden against the Colossus, here.Read Mr. Stolyarov's comprehensive treatise, A Rational Cosmology, explicating such terms as the universe, matter, space, time, sound, light, life, consciousness, and volition, here.