Who am I when I am stripped down to the bare essentials of life?
"To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment." — Ralph Waldo Emerson
I learned some new words today: Sine Cera, which is Latin for "without wax."
Now that I have your attention and hopefully piqued your curiosity, let me explain. During Roman times, marble sculptures were highly valued as status symbols, but they were challenging to create. Sculptors had to ensure that every strike of the chisel was perfect. However, mistakes occasionally occurred, leaving unsightly marks on the marble. To hide these imperfections, the sculptor would fill them with a soft wax that matched the color of the marble. The average person couldn't distinguish the difference.
The statues without wax, known as "Sine (without) Cera (wax)," commanded a much higher price than those with wax.
You may have already noticed that this is the origin of the word "sincere," meaning without wax.
I learned this from The Gaping Void Culture Design Group which publishes a fascinating newsletter with informative and inspirational messages cleverly illustrated with a graphic.
As I read this short piece, I wondered how much “wax” I’ve used in my life trying to conceal my flaws. Who would I be if the “wax” of my possessions melted away, and I stood alone and naked in the world without even my name and all my flaws visible . . . as if my flaws aren’t already visible? I just like to think I’m clever enough to conceal them.
Who am I when I am stripped down to the bare essentials of life?
Viktor Frankl, an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist, faced this existential question during his five years in a Nazi concentration camp. In his book, Man’s Search for Meaning, he described his arrival at a Nazi concentration camp where he was stripped of his possessions, including the manuscript of his life's work. He was separated from his family, stripped naked, and even had the hair on his body removed. His name was replaced with a number. Many people in the camps experienced a profound sense of dehumanization and loss of identity that they could not overcome, but Frankl managed to find meaning amidst the suffering and went on to become a famous and influential author and speaker.
He discovered that even with all of his “wax” removed the Nazis could not take away his ability to find meaning in his suffering. His manuscript was still in his head, safe from his captors as long as he was alive. He observed that this initial experience of dehumanization was a crucial moment. He realized that he could not control his external circumstances, but he could control his response to them. His experience was the source of this famous quotation:
“Between the stimulus and response, there is a space. And in that space lies our freedom and power to choose our responses. In our response lies our growth and our freedom”
He describes how he imagined the lectures he would give when he was free, using the ideas from the manuscript that was taken from him. He stayed focused on a future state in the midst of his intense suffering. The people he saw dying around him were largely those who weren’t able to find meaning in their suffering and had nothing to hope for in the future.
"He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how." — Friedrich Nietzche
Age has a way of removing the “wax.” I suppose it gets worn off by too much handling. Or maybe we just take it off because we’re tired of trying to be somebody that we’re not. Like my old friend, Bill Zaner used to say, “One of the best things about getting old is that you don’t give a damn what other people think about you anymore.” I’m not sure I’ve reached that level of enlightenment yet, but I’m a lot better than I was when i was younger.
Who am I when I am stripped down to the bare essentials of life?
Viktor Frankl was stripped down to the bare essentials of life, and he discovered the answers to four existential questions:
Who am I?
Why am I here? What is life asking of me?
What’s most important in my life?
What is non-negotiable?
I can’t compare myself or my circumstances to Viktor Frankl, but I find that I am thinking a lot about those questions at age 81. I hope I have a good answer before other people answer it with, “Who was he?”
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