Transcendental Meditation

Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood.
RALPH WALDO EMERSON, Essays

During the Fall semester of 2013, I ran across this quote while taking an American Literature course.  These words struck like a thunderbolt!  Few things in life have such an impact.  "To be great is to be misunderstood."  Hmm...!  As I struggle to make sense of this stage play called life and the other actors involved, I push to the forefront the realization I have always known somewhat subconsciously.  And that is, I am greatly misunderstood: my thoughts, behaviors, actions, and overall demeanor.  The familial shaping of my formative years, the tumultuous adolescent years, and my experiences post-high school, work and social, have built upon one another to make me into the person I am today.  A common phrase used in my men's group is to live too much between my ears.  Is this the dilemma or conundrum often dealt with by intellectuals?  Maybe I live too much on the metaphysical plane desiring people to live by such lofty ideals as logic and reason as played in such old-world virtues of character, integrity, and rationalism.  To seek reconciliation of the juxtaposition of my time on earth and life surrounding me may not ever possibly come to fruition on this side of eternity.  Until then, I will continue to seek a proper response to life as two worlds collide: mine and the day and age in which I live.  In the meantime, I am in good company.  So Galileo, my dear friend Luther, how are you? 

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