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On those rare occasions when I've found cause to reflect on my beliefs regarding this subject, I guess I've found myself caught somewhere in the middle.
I was captured by Hoyt's (2005) reflections on 'acorn theory', in which he cites James Hillman's (1996) book, The Soul's Code: In Search of Character and Calling, and suggests thinking of how people not only 'grow up' but also 'grow down' into the world:
In a nutshell, then, this...is about calling, about fate, about character, about innate image. Together they make up the “acorn theory,” which holds that each person bears a uniqueness that asks to be lived and that is already present before it can be lived (p. 6).
Hoyt also describes resonating with Roger Housden's (2001) book, Ten Poems to Change Your Life, from which he quotes the following:
We spend much of our lives trying to make ourselves—to create the life we want, to forge some reality from our dreams. We live in a culture wedded to the fantasy of self-determination and self-made men. Yet there is another school of thought that looks at a human life from the other direction. Instead of making ourselves, this more ancient tradition would say we ourselves are there in embryo from the start, and we unfurl as we go along, colored by circumstances and climate. Just as the oak tree is there already in the acorn, the babe carries on its brow and in its eyes the mark and signature of its later life. Not the details, perhaps, but the particular energetic response to life, the quality of engagement that is unique to him [or her]. It is as if our joys and trials are there in seed from the beginning (pp. 97 – 98).
Undoubtedly, there's a part of me that finds the beliefs contained in the above two passages liberating; the idea that I can, perhaps more often than not, allow myself to simply 'be' and trust in 'the forces'.
Then again, who would be responsible if I didn't proactively pursue, and then hopefully achieve, my evolving life dreams? Would it really matter? Therein lies my dilemma.
My experience with friends and family suggests that, at some level, we are all engaged with some aspect of this quandry during our life journey. As such, I'd be really intrigued to know what your perspectives, conclusions even, might be. Thank you for sharing.
References
Hillman, J. (1996). Cited in M. F. Hoyt (2005).
Housden, R. (2001). Cited in M. F. Hoyt (2005).
Hoyt, M. F. (2005). Why I became a (brief) psychotherapist. Journal of Clinical
Psychology, 61(8), 983-989.
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