What You Acquire on the Same Path as Others isn’t Yours

The machine dangles its products in front of us. We follow these products in awe only to be led through the machine. As we change, turning into what we think is a better us, we simply become another copy of someone else. We don't get the products of the machine, we become the products of the machine. When we don't know what to do we turn to the machine. We pick the fruit along our way, only to realize that it is overripe. It is enough to keep us going, but not enough to satisfy. We have not made our mark, the mark has been made upon us. Our footprints are not left upon the earth, as we wear the same shoes and walk upon the same spots as others before us. We produce nothing but a reflection of what someone else has built. We believe though that the machine protects, the machine illuminates, the machine supports. We die: we become a ghost to possess someone else's life in order to fill our empty hearts. When that life outweighs what is left from our life, us ghosts will not live eternally, for our life is found only in the body, the life we follow, and not the soul, our own life. We lose our souls in watching others. We may begin to feel the weight of our bodies in comparison to the weight of our souls. Our body may start to drag us down rather than lift us up. But if we refuse the machine's demands and tread across unclaimed land, we become explorers, creating a story that others will be tempted to follow. Hopefully these others will not follow your path, but rather your spirit, the spirit of exploration and independence.