We like to think that we have a substantial core to ourselves, some type of identity which lasts. However, it is proabably better to see ourselves as continually defining ourselves, each day and each week, by the choices which we make. And as I said in a post yesterday, even a week can open up a completely different reality, in a world which changes like our one does. Each day we are faced with a multitude of choices. And as St Thomas Aquinas reminded us, every choice is a renunciation. In fact it's a thousand renunciations. Simply put: If you choose to take one path, you give up on another path, if you choose to spend your time and energies in one direction, you can't spend them somewhere else. We can't have it all. Each choice serves to eliminate some possibilities. Thus, in a real sense, we become the being we are, by choosing certain directions, and communicating that choice to others. Often the choice made by us or by others allows a path to open which otherwise would not have been possible. Life is indeed rare and unique, and not a rehearsal, but lived moment by moment, this breath arises and passes away, this chance comes and goes away.
