To become the person you would like to be, you must begin by pretending to be that person. If you are poor, but would like to be rich, you must first pretend to have those qualities and abilities that will lead you to riches. If you are meek, but would like to be powerful, you must first pretend to have those qualities and abilities that will lead you to power. If you would like to have particular new skills, you must first pretend to have those skills.
It is rather obvious where this line of thinking is leading. For, as you repeatedly pretend and practise, pretend and rehearse, so you get better at what you’re doing. By degrees, you become the person you would like to be. And, as you progress, so you can raise your sights to higher levels of achievement. And, as you gain confidence in the method, you can even change your aims. In fact, you will almost certainly change your aims ; but this realization need not interfere with your initial purposes.
But you have to prepare yourself for disappointments, because there will be many. And what better preparation than to pretend that you can handle setbacks almost effortlessly. With practice, setbacks become simply parts of the process ; and they are necessary parts, for there is much uncertainty in the world. Few indeed have the gift of foresight.
Perhaps the big question is, What kind of person would you like to be? The answer will depend on your immediate needs, but also on your world-view ; and these two things must be reconciled. For those of a particular (and deep-rooted) persuasion, perhaps the words of Evelyn Underhill have a resonance. “For it is not what you are nor what you have been that God regards with his most merciful eyes, but what you would like to be.”
Jamie
You have me stumped on this one; unless I misunderstand the word pretend in the sense that you mean, I would much rather be exactly what I am to me right now.
I have just reached the end [I hope the final end] of an encounter with what they call the Pony Press [which is the Tabloid, or filth is a better word] on a family matter.
They pretend that they report news but actually manufacture what they want to present to the public; they pretend that their version is the truth and I told them yes it might be the truth if you first convert it to sewage.
I am not popular with one of our big sewage press corporations right now; before anyone thinks otherwise the issue was not about me. I had taken the swine on to defend a family member and a close friend.
Maybe I shall discover your meaning of the word pretend later; right now I am rather sick about pretending people. Do you still have the Tabloid Press out your way?
I’m sorry to hear of your troubles with the press, Ike. Even the good reporters are imaginitive in their story-telling ; the worst are just filth. They hide behind the freedoms they have been granted, so as to spin tales that their clever lawyers deem they can get away with.
But I wasn’t thinking of quite that sort of pretence when I wrote the blog post. I was thinking of that pretence which we all know but don’t often think about.
Remember the time you first ‘drove’ a car? There must have been at least a small part of you that believed you could do it ; and another part that was determined to imitate what you had seen other drivers do. “If they can do it, then so can I,” was your watchword. You might have driven over several sheep and a goat, but you were imitating someone you more or less admired for his driving.
Now, when you took on the press to defend your family friend, I wonder if there wasn’t a part of you that pretended that you could indeed win your case? even though this was the first and only case of its kind you had taken on.
OK Jamie
I had just never considered using the word pretend in this context, but it makes sense.
In the case of the Tabloid Press [should be called Sewage Press] it is amazing that people read it and if I read some of the comments in this case because I had to and it seems that they are actually enjoying it. And I wonder whether the people that work there have spouses and children. How do they educate their own children to have respect for anything?
May I quote your opening paragraph [anonymous of course] in a Post that I started because of it? You summarize the situation so well.