Real

What is Real? I'm not talking about our sense of reality and what exists, but instead about this idea I see about me. People want to be real. Maybe it's a new phenomenon and maybe not. I know what it's not. It's not Fake. It's the rebellion against the fake that we're all sick of seeing, whether that be in the media, the generations before, or even the church. Real is not wearing a mask to cover up who you really are. Real is not forcing yourself to conform against your will to the norms. It's admitting what doesn't make sense to you and not walking along as if it did just because the people around you seem to get it.

What does that mean in practice though. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Should we strive to be real?

I think yes, but with a caution.

We're born evil. Sinful nature. To me that's pretty clear just looking around. The danger then is this. We place being real on a pedestal and say, I know this (whatever this may be for you) is wrong, but if I don't do it, I wouldn't be being true to myself. I wouldn't be the true me. I would be fake to not do it. Therefore I must do it.

No. The idea isn't "be true to yourself." Instead the idea is "be true to who you should be." Find out what you were created for and,

pursue it,

openly,

honestly,

fully.

When what you know is right and what you feel is right disagree, don't just blindly pick one, following what you know and being fake, or what you feel because you want to be real. Instead Question, Search, Think, Observe, until the two things become aligned. Some times that's a shift in what you know, or thought you knew, and other times it's a shift in how you feel.

Always admit to yourself what bothers you, what you don't understand, what you disagree with, but don't leave it there. Fix it. When you've fixed it, you've grown. The Real you has become closer to who it should be. That's the difference. There's the people who reject themselves to make it look like they are who they should be. They look like they've progressed while they leave their real selves far behind. That is fake. Real, is when what you really think, and how you really feel is how you act, and that real you grows each day to be closer to the you that should be. Those two different lives will look the same for a time, but in the end, one will be going through meaningless motions and the other will be living from the heart.

Real is not an excuse to give in to your nature. It is not an excuse to be lazy, not to struggle. Real is a challenge to do nothing thoughtlessly. Both being fake, and being "true to your nature" kill you, while being Real and true to who you should be, gives life.