The Path of the Outsider

By: Erik Rittenberry

Photo: Erik Rittenberry

I know always that I am an outsider; a stranger in this century and among those who are still men.

—H.P. Lovecraft

Happiness has never been my aim. 
I'm not too interested in the 
anesthetized comforts that so many 
mistake for fulfillment. It is a pale 
and transient thing, happiness, a surface 
glimmer that vanishes the moment one 
gropes for it. 

The soul needs fire, not ease. 
Trials and tribulations of an agonizing 
passion that propels it toward its destiny. It 
needs adventure, daring shenanigans, and 
a fierce audacity to transcend that 
culturally-defined, yet loathsome
word we call "expectations."

I'm not here to squander this brief life
on vain preoccupations or foolish ambition, 
chasing the manufactured ideals of success that 
so much of modern society idolizes. That's 
not where it's at. These are all but mirages, 
distractions that lead us away from the 
wisdom of the blood.

True success is not found in conforming, 
nor is it measured by wealth and shiny 
possessions. It comes as a derivative 
of an uncommon vitality, by following 
one’s deepest instincts, by obeying 
the subtle whisper of the soul 
rather than the clamor 
of the world. 

I chase no approval, no validation—only 
a little freedom to create, to become. With
little, I am more. Life is not about 
waiting to be shaped by circumstance, or 
accommodating the whims of leaders
and charlatans, it is about shaping oneself, 
carving one's own name into the 
weathered stone of being.

We all stand at the eternal crossroads
every moment of our lives.  

Either we yield to the illusions of this 
fabricated world, allowing it to mold 
us into passive onlookers, dulled by empty 
distractions and half-baked ambitions, exchanging 
the fire of our own becoming for the false 
gods of security and routine, forsaking 
the deep call that stirs within.

Or we will choose the path of the outsider—
a rebel in the truest, most 
metaphysical sense. 

We will uncover within ourselves a deep 
and unshakable truth, and we will cast 
our lives into the tumultuous sea of fate, 
denying ourselves no experience, tearing 
away the veil of artifice to see the world 
as it truly is. 

We will either become benumbed spectators 
in the arena of life or impassioned creators 
we were born to be, unapologetically alive 
and in harmony with the primal force 
that called us into existence.

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