The journey to self-discovery from a repressed life at the brink of death

The journey to self-discovery from a repressed life at the brink of death

Thesis Statement: The immoralist is a narration of self-discovery whereby the protagonist chooses to live against societal norms.

Introduction

The dominant theme in “The immoralist’’ book is growing self-awareness. The author presents the argument through gays whose sexual desires are against the norms of societal conventions. Most societies demonize gays and consider it savage and evil.  The book narrates a story of Gide whose transgender sexual tendency came into conflict with his marriage life during his youthful years. The book describes Michel’s process of self-discovery in a simple cunning manner. The book does not directly describe Michel’s homosexuality but rather his attraction to younger Arab boys and his lack of interest in sex with his wife, Marceline. Michel is also quoted saying that he prefers the odd of the prostitute’s brother by the name Ali.

The novel also has profoundly and skilfully made this theme very vividly, although the author hid the truth between the lines throughout the book. The writer also implicated self-discovery as a long, complicated, and continuous process, although Gide identified his sexual inclination quite fast. Gide believed that sincerity and the philosophy of anti-commitment generally shapes the world. This project report will answer the question of how social norms affect our identity and behavior in society.

Self-discovery

Self-discovery is learning what kind of person one is and what one wants to do with his life. Michel’s story describes a journey to self-discovery. Michel had led a sheltered life as a scholar under his father before his marriage. Michel’s travel with his wife for honeymoon to North Africa opened up his feeling and became increasingly aware of himself. He became more aware of his physical and sensual body, and as time passed, he discovered his true inner self, which. With the increasing awareness, Michel found himself presenting a false outer appearance to his wife. With the discussion with his wife, Michel became more convinced that it is essential to live according to one’s natural desires. One, therefore, does not need to struggle with aligning the inner self according to the hidden norms of the society. The journey to self-awareness left Michel more confused with his life.he finally tells his friend that knowing oneself is not difficult, but the challenge is knowing how to live with freedom. The society controls and regulates the truth to sexuality, and those who show deviations from heterosexuality and social norms face a life of abnormality and deviance and tend to have a carefree attitude. These divergent paths are unique and bring about liberation and self-awareness.

On the journey to self-discovery, fearless expression is inevitable as one unfolds the original image. The good thing with self-discovery is that one understands his nature better, which is independent of fear or limiting thoughts. Each person is unique in one way or another, and therefore self-discovery is a very personal process, and no one else can do it for you. One has to be fearless of what they discover and how life will change after self-discovery. Self-discovery makes one more aligned to his feelings, and therefore the sense of life becomes more real. In modern days, people fear the truth so much, but it is essential to know that nothing is more liberating than the fact.

Generally, there are two ways to live; you can choose to trade your inner freedom or decide not to compromise your true self. These choices are both valid in life, and decisions are made based on the current situation that one is in at that time. Self-awareness acts as a life-energy towards the path of growth, which allows one to operate from a perspective of inner wisdom. As such, suppressing your natural being makes one use some patterns and thoughts that were instilled by the environment. Some of these thoughts may be misguided and therefore making one to live a disconnected life.

This journey to self-discovery makes us identify and eliminate the unwanted weeds in our minds as they are false, expressing our natural desires. The process becomes very smooth when one becomes committed to the truth, and one feels alive and free. The simplest way to identify the truth about one’s nature is by identifying where your interests mostly lie. The fact will always remain in your mind after you remove all your fear.

Resisting self- discover, on the other hand, is keeping oneself away from truth or learning. When one resists self-discovery, he usually needs to keep on convincing themselves about something, for example, convincing yourself that you are in a happy relationship. Truth does not require convincing but sticks to the mind automatically. You also get very afraid when one opposes your thought, thus indicating that you are also not sure of the truth. You also find yourself trying to convince other people about your beliefs and trying to get their take about it. It is also common to try identifying with a group that has similar views as yours and one fear of leaving a group that he associates his identity.

When one discovers some truth about yourself, one tends to cling on it instead of being open-minded to the evolving expressions. One also tends to give in to fear and cling to familiar grounds instead of developing trust of oneself and personal intelligence. One is, therefore, not flexible in integrating new understanding. The point is never about holding on but being open to discovery. Is shown in the novel, most times, self-discovery is an issue of mind versus the body. Michel lived a life of his mind with his wealthy father before marriage.  As he was nursing tuberculosis in Algeria, he increasingly focused on his body rather than the mind. By the time Michel recovered utterly, his physical body had begun to see the handsome Arab boys in the oasis. He began to improve his physical body by dieting and physical exercise. He also shaved his beards and left his hair to grow tall; this demonstrated the profound changes that came over his after concentrating on his natural being. Michel’s illness, therefore, contributed much tin his self-awareness course. While nursing, Marceline got ill from the same disease, which causes miscarriage, and later she succumbed to the disease. During his scholarly life, he spent most of his time studying dead people and cultures, but with the new life, he abandoned examining the past. After the death of his wife, Michel finds himself enjoying life, and he describes this process as rebirth.

In the modern-day world, people face many problems that either reinforce the drive for self-awareness or mask it completely. These situations include imprisonments, accidents, bankruptcy, divorce, sickness, and other disasters. For example, the French philosopher Michel Foucault argued that prisons produce docile people tunned through routine and punishment. While in prison, some people learn how the system works and adapt to it, and therefore they can make informed decisions. Some find ways around the system, while others choose not to compromise their beliefs and standards even when in these collection centers. Most prison serving people finds that they act at a choice point rather than the environment. In instances where circumstances are entirely changed, people often find themselves thinking about how to how to act and what to do in return. This stage, when one works at a point of choice, marks the end when they decide to be proactive through self-discovery and resistance towards their imprisonment. As these people find the new definition and solutions to their situation, they find themselves telling the truth about the prisoner they are to the authorities.

During self-discovery today, one needs to have an internal compass that directs his route in this vast world. Courage means that one feels safe from inside first to start thinking past the situations at hand. Engaging in work, craft watching movie, or TV and friendships play a significant role in helping one to attain their self-discovery strategies. For a prisoner who embarks on self-awareness, they can rebuild their social bonds and forgive themselves. These people then define their relevance and forgive those who have harmed them. Later they can develop personal tolerance, which enables them to trust and have empathy for others.

The concept of self-discovery is, therefore, how one sees himself and the perception of how others see him. It is also reasonable to have a sense of humor when others tell us something about us, but we laugh at our jokes. At other times the contribution of other people’s appraisal may be a powerful concept that we end up being influenced by them.  This labeling or appraisal from others may hamper the path to self-discovery as one tends to believe that the label from others is right rather than their views. Resistance leads to self-stigma, and one experiences self-prejudice if he does not become open-minded and skeptical in the way he takes other people’s opinions. Galinsky et al. (2013) explored labeling from the peer group members, hamper self-discovery. He argues that individuals who accept a formerly negative label get a challenge in reclaiming the stigma attached to the

name.

For one to remain in the course to self-discovery, pay attention to yourself. Self-discovery entails listening to the body and monitors the mental physical and emotional responses to situations in the day to day life. The other way is through trusting one’s instincts. Although we are conditioned to believe in our brain, mostly, our conscience will also tell the truth. For instance, you had planned to go out with a friend, but your instincts are telling you not to go. The feeling maybe because the situation will not turn up well. In such a case, you can decide to trust your gut and cancel the trip.

Another way has time to think about oneself. Having time to listen to what the body is telling you helps to make the right decisions based on logic and emotions. It is also essential to have a strong towards oneself. The fact remains that nobody is perfect, and therefore taking offense of the past mistakes will only affect your health. It is also essential for one to ask the right questions to get to the root of the issues.

Conclusion

Ignorance towards true self is something that many people have lived with for a long time. The effect of self-discovery includes happiness, fulfillment, clarity, and becoming more enlightened. This journey, however, is not as comfortable as it entails fear, confusion, misunderstanding, and doubt. One has to be prepared to lose some friends from their lives and other setbacks along the way. It is stupid to live a life of untrustworthy and denial, and this brings about many disappointments along the way. Self-discovery, therefore, helps to relieve fear and becomes aware of feelings and acknowledges them as they help release fear. The point here is that one should stop being his own worst enemy by lying himself concerning his emotions and feelings.

 References

LeShan, Lawrence. How to meditate: A guide to self-discovery. Little, Brown, 2017

Laing, Jennifer H., and Warwick Frost. “Journeys of well-being: Women’s travel narratives of transformation and self-discovery in Italy.” Tourism Management 62 (2017): 110-119.

Quinodoz, Danielle. Growing old: A journey of self-discovery. Routledge, 2014.

Friedman, David M. “The immortalists: Charles Lindbergh, Dr. Alexis Carrel, and their daring quest to live forever.” (2007).

Lieberman, Sara E., and A. Jordan Wright. “The role of openness to experience and sexual identity formation in LGB individuals: Implications for mental health.” Journal of Homosexuality 61.2 (2014): 334-353.