#self-assertion

the beast

growls

the beast

crawls

digging tunnels underneath my skin

channeling water to my eyes

the beast won't rest until the beast

dies

but the beast won't die

the beast can't die

it will feed on

the thoughts left behind

the beast will grow and it will

get harder and harder to keep it still

i

am trying to stay silent

i know they see me

i know they know me

but when every flaw comes chanting down the mountain slope

when every demon awakens and slides down its rope

when the sky shuts down

when the flames flare up

when black becomes blacker and the trees shoot higher

when every roar becomes thunder

when the light goes out and the ground breaks asunder

then

then the compressed air will come out

and

blow everything away

the masks will fall and fall and the clay

the damp, still fresh clay

of our faces will be

undone

we will go back to everything we've always known

by Aiden Wilson Tozer

The absence of spiritual devotion today is an omen and a portent. The modern church is all but contemptuous of the sober virtues--meekness, modesty, humility, quietness, obedience, self-effacement, patience. To be accepted now, religion must be in the popular mood. Consequently, much religious activity reeks with pride, display, self-assertion, self-promotion, love of gain and devotion to trivial pleasures.

It behooves us to take all this seriously. Time is running out for all of us. What is done must be done quickly. We have no right to lie idly by and let things take their course. A farmer who neglects his farm will soon lose it; a shepherd who fails to look after his flock will find the wolves looking after it for him. A misbegotten charity that allows the wolves to destroy the flock is not charity at all but indifference, rather, and should be known for what it is and dealt with accordingly.

Wear Your Mask Like a Weapon

Something people prefer not to see is that what gets called an “inferiority complex” is not just vanity wounded by comparison, but something closer to a felt instability in one’s own capacity to exist, to act, to hold ground in life.

The mask is not primarily a social trick to impress others. It is a response to an inner perception. “In this domain, I am weaker than I need to be to survive or to matter.” That perception is not abstract. It is felt in the body, in hesitation, in withdrawal, in the sense that one’s impulses do not carry enough force. From there, the mind does something very specific. It does not merely compensate; it tries to override that weakness by constructing a position of strength that can be inhabited, even if artificially.

This is where the figures of Mother Teresa and Che Guevara enter as psychological possibilities rather than historical individuals. They function as extreme forms of self-assertion. Not because everyone wants to become them, but because they represent a kind of internal statement “I will not collapse; I will convert weakness into force, even if it costs me everything.” The mask, then, is not just deception. It is an attempt to force a transformation by living into a role that contradicts the felt weakness.

Susan McLean, ‘Rules for Love’

Don’t wear make-up, ever. Don’t act girly. Don’t collect shoes or shop until you drop. If your hair is straight, don’t make it curly. Don’t play dumb or play his games. Don’t stop reading or saying what you think. Don’t flatter. Don’t claim that you love football if you don’t. Don’t sidestep. Don’t pretend it doesn’t matter if he puts down your friends or if he won’t do his fair share of…

"We make way for the man who boldly pushes past us." Christian Nestell Bovee

https://xyzlifecoach.com/category/positive-quotes/

My comment:

Yes, nice guys finish last! But the crying kitten gets the most milk. There are times and places where one ought to speak up and make their needs known. In the least be able to look into the mirror and express the energy of your will and vision outwards to the universe.