四級晨讀主題美文100篇 07

An Awareness of Self

To live an aware life, the individual must ‵begin|with an awareness of self. He ‵must conduct a running examination|and periodic reexaminations of the self — in language, the medium of farthest reaches, deepest diving, and most complicated windings. The ‵sorting might well begin|with the ordinary, everyday experience of life. A diary or journal|enables one to ‵examine|and evaluate experiences, as well as to come to ‵understand them|and their significance — or insignificance. Most of us ‵do this examination|and evaluation in moments of dreaming|or in that state of mental wandering|‵just before sleep. There is ‵some|(even great) advantage, however, in ‵subjecting ourselves to the discipline of written language, in which the ‵vague and the confusing|and the poorly defined give way to the specific, the ‵firm, and the clearly formulated.

For ‵writing|is discovery. The language that ‵never leaves our head|is like colorful yarn, which endlessly spins out multicolored threads|dropping into emptiness, momentarily compacted, entangled, fascinating, and elusive. We have glimpses that seem ‵brilliant|but quickly fade; we ‵catch sight of images|that tease us with connections and patterns|that ‵too-soon flow on;① we ‵hold in momentary view|a comprehensive arrangement|(insight) that dissolves rapidly and disappears.

Writing|that is ‵discovery|forces the capturing, the retrieving, and the bringing into focus|these stray and random thoughts. ‵Examining them|we form ideas|that are as much about the self| ‵as about language. Indeed, writing is ‵largely a process of|choosing among alternatives from the images|and ‵thoughts of the endless flow, and this ‵choosing|is the matter of making up one’s mind, and this ‵making up one’s mind|becomes in effect|the making up of one’s self. ‵In this way writing|that is honest and genuine|and ‵serious|constitutes the discovery|of the self.