Adventures with Ideas: Truth, Beauty, and the Paradoxes of Life.

My Story

My life story thus far has been one of wonderfully incredible highs, and powerfully depressing lows. No doubt I’m not alone in this. Time and time again, my world view gets turned upside down. Things that one day appear impossible, become possible; and things that one day appear true, I discover are false. I once thought myself the most ugly person in the world and yet I modeled in Paris, Vienna, Berlin, and LA. At school I was unable to touch my toes and now I teach Pilates. My worst subject was English and now I am a writer. I once considered myself a ‘right-sider’ – good at mathematics and business, working as an accountant and in IT – but now I love photography and believe expression of creativity is an essential part of life.

There have been some funny episodes during this self-discovery process: from hosting an arm-wrestling TV show  in Japan to partying it up at Brazil’s Carnaval, to spending a mellow two and a half years living with and caring for my late 93-year old grandfather. 

It was living as a retired 26-year old that I began my “search for Truth”. At first this was to investigate my family’s religion – a conservative strand of Christianity that I was once completely devoted to. I recorded my questions, sought answers from as many sources as I could and documented the answers I discovered (Posted here: Journey of an Inquisitive Christian.)

Dealing with questions about religion was difficult at the time, but this was just the beginning. My “pursuit for Truth” – for a deeper understanding of what is reality – enticed me to go back to university. Soon I learned something even more disturbing than my religion being untrue…

I learned that debates over “Truth” had gone on for centuries, and that the general consensus within university borders was that there is, in fact, no such thing as Truth! While some may have become nihilistic about the “Truth”, I haven’t given up on it yet. I think a Truth exists – even if we will never know what that Truth is. My truth will always be relative to other people’s truths, as we each interpret and experience different versions of the one shared Reality from different lenses embedded in our own life experiences. The future (in my opinion) lies in a fusion of the Modern Grandnarratives and Post-Modern idea of an infinite number of narratives.

It seems that in life most opposites lie on a continuum and by definition require the presence of the other, from hot and cold, to creation and destruction.

When my Opa passed away in December 2009, I moved into the centre of Sydney, living a more typical life of a twenty-something: working, partying, doing yoga; as well as editing a travel memoir about three-months in South America, and embarking on a PhD on Narratology, Panentheism and Peace – looking at ecological issues alongside the historical, religious and philosophical basis for my developing truth – from the perspective of the stories we think, share and live.

Mid-2011 I moved to Hickory, in North Carolina on the east coast of the United States to teach a Humanities undergraduate course “Storytelling” and assist a cross-Philosophy-Political-Science subject “War and Peace”.

Following a few adventures in America, Canada and Nicaragua Peace”, I returned to Sydney and in April 2012 I started working part-time as the Executive Officer of the Sydney Peace Foundation. I am still in the midst of my PhD.

Through this little slice of cyberspace somewhere on the world wide web I am offering to my story as it unfolds, with the hope that you can share your stories with me too.

I believe that with an open mind and with the willingness to listen, empathise, share, and grow, we can move toward creating a more peaceful and sustainable planet, for us and the generations to come.

While the “anything is possible” motto is probably the more than overused “you can do it” message in the 21st century, there is something to be said for the power of the mind to create the reality it wants to create. I have asked “God” / The Universe for the most unlikely things, and more often than not they materialise, sooner than later. They don’t always come in the way I expect, and when the opportunity to achieve that dream arise I might not always seize it. And maybe it just simply comes down to a little positive thinking, but certainly I think Henry Ford was right when he said: “If you think you can do it, or you think you can’t do it, You are right.” If you make your intentions clear you never know which of your most unlikely dreams just might come true. So dream big… Anything is possible.

More on my story:

I very much appreciate feedback and to hear your stories so please send me an email, leave a comment, or enter discussion on this blog’s Facebook page.

Thanks for visiting!

Juliet xx