Following Your True Character Means Recreating Yourself

Every person is born with a specific personality. It is very prominent in a child, but as he grows, his character is greatly affected by his environment. Ideally, it fosters his personality to help it complete its mission. If this is the case, his individuality is enhanced and his energy is constantly replenished so he can pour it into his creative pursuits. This is the right way of manifesting sincerity; by letting his heart guide him.

Art of a child samurai by T. Berg

But it is far more common for a man to let his environment replace his personality and become a mere template or copy of his surroundings. A particularly perverse method of this was implemented in China, whereby babies were put in jugs and left there to grow. As the years went by, the poor children turned into ugly, jug-shaped midgets. On a spiritual level, such a method is common, for if a person’s true self conflicts with his mask of “individuality”, he can become seriously ill and self-destruct. While he may be alive, he will lack vitality like a lifeless puppet. His willpower will be broken by constant meaningless pressures and he will be completely at the mercy his environment- a dry leaf in the wind. The other side of this is when someone says, “I have no time”, which really means, “My true self is suppressed, that’s why my life is no more than an illusion and time slips through my fingers.”

According to Bushido, one moment is an eternity, and eternity is one moment. Therefore, when a person does what his soul aches for, he becomes absorbed in making his dream a reality and transforms time. As history has proven time and time again, when a man’s energy is not suppressed, he is capable of seemingly impossible feats. Ultimately, a man is like cup: when he constantly adds energy to it, it overflows and turns into creative power. However, if he is turned upside down, he will be empty.
Read further in the book Samurai. Legend.

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This the chapter "Following Your True Character Means Recreating Yoursel" from Samurai. Legend by A. R. Berg