Self

The tree in the village went up with not too many snags and what had concerned me for days was over quicker than I expected. It stayed dry though very cold and as the lights began to twinkle I was expecting at any time to see the first icicle or drop of snow but it did not happen so I came home and painted one for myself.

The word self is a word that we use so often in the actions of our lives. My new Ipad opens when it sees my face my selfie has become my password. The password to my life?  I am so glad that the picture I took of myself to help it recognise this again face is something that will stay between me and it and the world will never see it.

But the selfie is the order of the day you can hardly go anywhere without seeing somebody taking a selfie. So ingrained is this idea that the word selfie appears in the dictionary.

I was wondering about this and asking why we have all become so obsessed with ourselves? But then as an artist, I am aware that people have been having their portraits painted for years and every artist has at one time or other painted a self-portrait. 

In this fast-moving age, the camera has become an important part of our lives most of us carrying one with us at all times.

In this Age of Self, the language is filled with phrases that glorify personal choice above all other values. We talk of self-determination, self-knowledge, self-esteem, self-help even do-it-yourself. 

No doctrine is safe, no dictate accepted without scrutiny and questions, and this may well be a good thing. 

The touchstone of belief today is the individual, no longer the institution. 

Those who once demanded respect like teachers doctors and ministers of religion and politicians have lost authority. 

The same voters who talk back to their political leaders on call-in shows question the knowledge and authority of everybody. This also may be a good thing but often it is done not from a point of knowledge but an assertion of the self. 

It is a fact that  85 per cent of Roman Catholic Christians say that the pope is a moral leader, 4 out of 5 say they follow their own conscience, rather than papal authority, on moral questions.

The phrase "cafeteria Christians" describes those who pick and choose among church teachings, and then there are the "pick and mix religion of modern life taking a bit form this and that religion and making a self-fashioned belief system.  

Even the fast food chains boast, "Have it your way." And one of the most popular songs at funerals is becoming, "I did it my way."

All of this would be amazing and wonderful if at the same time we were taking time to think.

At age 20 I worried about what others thought of me. 

At 40 I tended not to care what they thought of me.   

At 60 I discovered they had not been thinking of me at all.

At almost 75 I am worried that thinking has been sidelined by the selfie.

My rant for this week, have a great day. Hoping it will be not what is predicted a dry one and I can challenge my son at golf again and forget the worries of the world.