Everyone lives with self mythology.
The more important a memory is to the story we tell ourselves about ourselves, the more often we rehearse the memory. And the more often we relive those memories, the less likely it is that they are true.
While I agree with the sentiment of Seth’s post, I have found that as much of our self mythology is supplied by those around us. It is the myth of their beliefs that makes us become better than what we were. Living up to the myth reflected in a loved one’s eyes is the creator of the myth we tell ourselves.
Related articles
- A legend in my own mind (sethgodin.typepad.com)
Got to disagree with Seth on this one. To dust off one of my favorite quotations (Faulkner), “Facts and truth really don’t have much to do with each other.” But that’s a straight path into a longer discussion than I have time for this morning! Still, it’s just as good to find something we disagree with, as agree with. Thanks for getting some neurons firing!
It really seems to me that you are both expressing the same idea with a different emphasis on the reality of truth…While Seth is saying the “facts” we remember are not always the “facts” that happened…Faulkner is saying that the greater “truth” does not always resemble the facts…
Linda, you are catching these things before I even have a chance to pour another cup after hiting the publish button…Thanks for the moving some of my neurons along another path.