“Real isn't how you are made,' said the Skin Horse. 'It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.'
'Does it hurt?' asked the Rabbit.
'Sometimes,' said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. 'When you are Real you don't mind being hurt.'
'Does it happen all at once, like being wound up,' he asked, 'or bit by bit?'
'It doesn't happen all at once,' said the Skin Horse. 'You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand.”― Margery Williams Bianco, The Velveteen Rabbit
Beyond authenticity there is truth.
Beyond authenticity there is being what you cannot not be.
Beyond authenticity there is relaxation.
Beyond authenticity there is non-forcing.
Beyond authenticity there is effortless blossoming.
Beyond authenticity there is no need to strive to ‘live my best life.’
Beyond authenticity there is no need to toil to ‘reach my fullest potential.’
Beyond authenticity it is seen that in the effort to ‘be authentic,’ the real is lost.
Beyond authenticity there is incineration of the cult of personality.
Beyond authenticity there is no need to strain to smile.
Beyond authenticity there is no need to present myself a certain way.
Beyond authenticity there is no need to ‘create an authentic personal brand on Instagram.’
Beyond authenticity I don’t need to always look like I just got back from Burning Man and just micro-dosed LSD and am ‘super stoked brah.’
Beyond authenticity it’s not about you.
Beyond authenticity there is wildness.
Beyond authenticity there is freedom.
Beyond authenticity there is no self.
Beyond authenticity there is the true self.
Beyond authenticity resides the raw.
Beyond authenticity resides the real.
Beyond authenticity, who the fuck cares?
Beyond authenticity I’m just me.
Just what I am.
Probably half naked playing online poker and eating a monster cookie at 1am.
Just me.
Take it or leave it.
I see you.
Do you see me?
Love,
J
P.S. Wild Freedom Retreat is coming up very soon! This is about to be such an enchanted portal of ayahuasca- and Bufo-infused sound healing, music-making, community-building, hammock-lounging, soul-liberation, and sacred fun! I can’t speak highly enough about the tribe that is forming for this one—such a legendary bunch! It’s going to be tremendously beautiful. Join us! Partial scholarship are available if you feel a strong calling.