“Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.” Oscar Wilde

“For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” Jesus

After reading Mr. Wilde the first thing I thought about was how much this sounds somewhat like the goal of the Christian experience. Doesn't a Christian want to become like Christ, to think His thoughts, imitate His actions and live by His words? If this is the case, how can a Christian hope to live any kind of authentic life? We do well to remember that Jesus did not say that we must lose our life for the sake of loosing it but that we must lose it to find it. Christ does not wish to possess us like a demon but to enter our life and return us to true freedom. I can never be my own person in any good sense of the word unless I am set free to do so and if I am honest I confess that I am like the alcoholic, powerless before my selfishness. Any authenticity I hope to have can only be found in connection to my Creator not independent from Him. A branch cannot have life apart from the vine from which it sprang. 4/25/2011 Conversations Within ts (Pisgah National Forest, NC)