{"id":4310,"date":"2013-06-05T08:01:13","date_gmt":"2013-06-05T08:01:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/?p=4310"},"modified":"2015-02-16T10:31:55","modified_gmt":"2015-02-16T10:31:55","slug":"code-ode-11-identity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/friends-of-cvm\/code-ode-11-identity\/","title":{"rendered":"Code Ode 11: Identity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Read this:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshipped the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise. Amen! Romans 1 v 25.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be. Matthew 6 v 21.<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

Recite this out loud:<\/strong><\/span>
\nThis question runs so deep that we,
\nCan look at it as a clich\u00e9,
\nScared by its implications, keep
\nThe issue under wraps, at bay.
\nIt\u2019s \u2018Who am I, what makes me, me?\u2019
\nWhat is the self inside myself?
\nBeneath all masks, all cons and self delusion,
\nWhat\u2019s my root and my foundation?
\nWhat am I seeking which, to look at me,
\nLets me accept the man I see?
\nCutting out the airs and graces,
\nPutting it out \u2018in yer face\u2019, it\u2019s
\nAsking myself , man to man,
\nWhat thing, for me, must be in place
\nTo say I and my life are, more than
\nA waste of space?<\/p>\n

There may be different things from time to time
\nIn rotation, taking turns to define you.
\nOr several at once, like vultures gathering
\nTo tear a piece so each, can dine on you.
\nYou may not think you think about them much.
\nOr, though they drive, inspire, or entwine you,
\nYou may not recognize these things as such.
\nUntil they disappear and leave you asking,
\n\u2018What\u2019s now left for me?\u2019 Or, \u2018is there a me
\nThat\u2019s left, enough to make it worth the asking?\u2019
\nYou think these things are just commitments?
\nOr just interests, mere pleasures
\nWhich you pluck, selectively
\nAt will from the air?
\nThen, in digging deep to find these things, beware.
\nYou\u2019ll find you\u2019ve struck, effectively
\nUpon your gods.
\nFor these things, these means to an end,
\nTo free you, to live for, and console you,
\nIn the end, they will be those that tend
\nTo be the ones that paradoxically control you.<\/p>\n

Suppose you run, intensively
\nOr, perhaps bike-ride.
\nWell ask from who, perhaps or what
\nYou\u2019re trying to hide.
\nOr is it what, perhaps or who
\nYou\u2019re trying to ride or run, to.
\n\u2018The journey\u2019s more important
\nThan the destination.\u2019
\nRubbish! That\u2019s a con, that\u2019s a fake
\nIdea\u2014always fleeing,
\nNot completing the escape.
\nNever reaching journey\u2019s end,
\nA total break.
\nUntil you can no longer run nor ride,
\nThe destination?– Lost, nowhere to hide.<\/p>\n

And are you a Man with a penis
\nIn the control of his mind?
\nOr are you more of a Penis,
\nDragging the corpse of a man, behind?
\nWhat\u2019ll be left of you or it
\nIf, after the years you\u2019ve tried
\nAnd tried and tried and tried and tried,
\nTo find that never again will you
\n(Even with Viagra), ever be satisfied.<\/p>\n

You live, say, for your children\u2019s happiness
\nAnd their best interest is at your heart.
\nAt heart, you are a Dad, with gifts to share.
\nAnd then they leave you and lose interest
\nAnd say their happiness is their affair.
\nOr turn out cheats and liars
\nAnd spend their time destroying peoples\u2019 lives
\nAnd you stand by them in denial
\nMaking every compromise.<\/p>\n

Work, sex, money, looks and fitness,
\nEven family and friends;
\nSuch outward things can just be means
\nTo reach our deeper, underlying ends;
\nEnds\u2014ingredients in a unique mix,
\nMaking up, for each of us, the cocktail
\nOf our personal, essential fix.
\nFour compass points to point to all that\u2019s me.
\nFour props to shore up my identity.
\nFirst there\u2019s power with influence, success.
\nThen pleasure, whether comfort shunning
\nOr excitement, using stress.
\nThird there\u2019s popularity, approval.
\nFourth, perfection with control and mess removal.<\/p>\n

So\u2014money\u2019s not just dollars, pounds whatever.
\nWithout even needing spending
\nOr your grip on it needing to sever,
\nIt gives power and a sense
\nOf comfort, safety, strong, unbending.
\nMoney spent can buy you pleasure.
\nSpend on others, generously
\nAnd you\u2019ll be popular and called a treasure.<\/p>\n

Of all these things, perhaps the trickiest
\nIs a sense of moral decency\u2014
\nSerious and not just \u2018pickiness\u2019.
\nStandards we believe in, even secretly,
\nMay just be means to self-control
\nAnd, when we keep them, crown our self-esteem
\nWhile quietly looking down on all
\nThe shameless airheads in their pleasure seeking dream.
\nBut when we fail to reach these moral goals,
\nHow do we forgive ourselves
\nWithout compromise and then live with ourselves?<\/p>\n

Our problem surely is ourselves.
\nWe seek meaning only from this World,
\nIdentity kept safe within ourselves.
\nOur gods are built on us or on this World
\nBut like all idols they have feet of clay.
\nThey\u2019re crushed beneath the weight of our demand
\nFor meaning; they can\u2019t cope in any way.
\nSome things gain the upper hand,
\nBecome addictions and destroy us.
\nWould-be good things, once they are our gods
\nTurn sour, sour us or soured by us,
\nFail or feed our pride or just annoy us.
\nSo money cannot satisfy us;
\nMoney, though, become our god, will buy us.
\nIn all this we may harm others,
\nEven those who love us.
\nOr our bright gleam
\nOf selfless, brave humanity
\nGets smothered in a sweet daydream
\nOf comfort-loving apathy.
\nAnd death will have the final say.
\nThe Master Joker has the final laugh
\nOn us, on our final day.<\/p>\n

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