Day One

It’s really about me, right? Dust to dust. Ashes to ashes. That’s my dust. That’s my ashes. I am the consciousness that is experiencing this thing called life, and when that consciousness ceases to exist so, for all intents and purposes, do I. So it makes perfectly good sense—it is logical—that my worldview be from the perspective of me first. How could it possibly be any other way?

Such egocentricity is the only really objective perspective from which to understand my place in the scheme of things. Take me out of the picture and there is no longer a picture. Of course this is not true for other sentient beings, but they are nothing more than the exterior trappings of my personal experience. It may be regarded as humane to care about what happens to these “others” but in truth I am afforded such a sentimental luxury only by caring about myself first and foremost.

Therefore, I unapologetically approach this “Lent” thing from the perspective of what’s in it for me? If the name of the game is self-denial, how is that going to benefit me? It’s nice to know that this all culminates in Easter, but how does this ancient myth genuinely assure my personal salvation? Am I going to be resurrected? Am I going to live forever? Am I guaranteed a place in heaven? You see, it’s really all about me.


Author's note: Steve (the younger) appropriately commented that a blog should be more a daily affair than weekly. This being Ash Wednesday affords me the opportunity to (somewhat lazily) republish my Lenten musings from a year ago, and in so doing to come closer to a new post each day (remember that Sundays are not counted in the forty days of Lent). It will be interesting to see how much my own thought has or has not changed in a year's time, and where I become aware of something significant I will add that as current commentary. As always, the comments I most value are yours.