晨读英语美文 An Identity of One's Own

An Identity of One's Own

[00:07.80]In the eternal universe,

[00:09.55]every human being has a one-off chance to live-

[00:13.74]his existence is unique and irretrievable, 

[00:17.79]for the mold with which he was made, as Rousseau said, 

[00:21.31]was broken by God immediately afterwards.

[00:24.85]Fame, wealth and knowledge are merely worldly possessions 

[00:29.99]that are within the reach of anybody striving for them. 

[00:34.30]But your experience of and feelings about life 

[00:38.08]are your own and not to be shared. 

[00:41.42]No one can live your life over again after your death. 

[00:46.62]A full awareness of this will point out to you 

[00:50.26]that the most important thing in your existence 

[00:53.71]is your distinctive individuality or something special of yours. 

[00:59.24]What really counts is not your worldly success 

[01:03.02]but your peculiar insight into the meaning of life 

[01:06.84]and your commitment to it, which add luster to your personality.

[01:12.13]It is not easy to be what one really is. 

[01:16.18]There is many a person in the world who can be identified as anything-

[01:21.56]either his job, his status or his social role-

[01:25.77]that shows no trace about his individuality. 

[01:29.72]It does do him justice to say that he has no identity of his own, 

[01:34.82]if he doesn't know his own mind and all his things 

[01:38.51]are either arranged by others or done on others' suggestions; 

[01:42.95]if his life, always occupied by external things, 

[01:46.27]is completely void of an inner world. 

[01:49.44]You won't be able to find anything whatever, 

[01:52.59]from head to heart, that truly belongs to him. 

[01:56.68]He is, indeed, 

[01:58.20]no more than a shadow cast by somebody else 

[02:01.85]or a machine capable of doing business.