The Frog and the Wren

I’ll make myself a character
if it enhance our storytimes.

(Authenticity is not-being; 
it’s only not-to-do.
The being is your game;
It’s ultimately up to you.)

This sort of divination
is our duty and our right:
to seed ourselves by inclination
and build by day as dreamt by night.

So I’ll be a frog and you’ll be a wren;
and we’ll decide what that means.
We’ll live in a cottage with a little smoke
whirling gently round the beams.

And if it please to be a rat,
we’ll squeeze together in our den.
And in our deepmost ratwrought dreams
we’ll sing a song of frog and wren.

Well, the day has finally come when I put my blog on my “main” social media profile.

To any new viewers, if you’re interested in my content, consider subscribing here if you’re on WordPress, following me on Twitter @TriuneMystery, following this same blog on Tumblr, or just checking in every now and again by clicking the link in my Instagram bio. It’s a pleasure to have you here.

Now, to some reflections:

What does it mean that authenticity is “not-being”, or “only not-to-do”?

Let’s examine it in contrast to the usual advice about authenticity: “Be yourself.” What does this advice mean? How can I concretely practice “being myself”? Aren’t I myself no matter what I do? If not, then how do I discover the “true self” that I’m meant to be? People spend a lot of time and money on trips and spiritual exercises to “find themselves.” Respectfully, I think this is a little misguided.

I think authenticity is not so much about trying to find a “core” of your “self” to live out, but is rather about relaxing into an abandonment of that search.

“Be yourself,” means, “Don’t try to be anyone or anything in particular,” and by (not) doing that, you will be free. There isn’t anything to do. There’s only not-to-do—that is, there is the process of unlearning the habit of trying to be something in particular.

This doesn’t preclude commitment to actions or to relationships; rather it is to acknowledge that there is no ultimate truth of the matter of what you are, and it is not to seek it. You are ultimately ineffable: you are irreducibly individual, beyond linguistic capture and categorization.

My own act of sharing this blog on my personal social media profile is an act of authenticity in my own becoming. By keeping it hidden away, I was trying to be something in particular: professional? Tough? Ordinary? I’m not exactly sure what the best word is; but I came to realize it was contrived, so my action was a letting-go of this effort.

In a sense, I am ceding control to you, the reader, who can judge me as you will.

If you’d like to join me in this letting go, I’d love submissions of poetry or longer-form writing at trinitarianmystery@gmail.com. I can post anonymously or with credit, with or without my personal reflections on the piece.

If you ever wanted a low-stakes way to get your poetry out there, this is it! Can’t get much lower-stakes than my current follower count! But stay tuned 😉