Biographies are ghastly things

Biographies are ghastly things. They place us in a box. We have to live up to the expectation of the things we’ve done before and qualifications we have been given. That is why I have a problem with my CV. I refuse to be defined by the “Corporate Voice” because it labels me by what I have done and leaves no room for what I might like to do or what I have not yet done. I admit that it gives others an indication of my potential skill, but it also closes the door of their mind to anything else I might be capable of doing. It traps me in my old life, and neatly confines me to stay where I am, instead of being a platform for growth and development.

 

Biographies also stress me out. They force me to remember my past, precisely what I was doing, for whom I was doing it and how successful I was at it (i.e. references etc.). Information I have long since left behind in the dark recesses of my mind.

 

I believe that you and I are more than the sum total of our work experience. and should certainly not be defined by someone else’s impressions or projections. I am me, the I AM presence that sees and hears and senses and knows that these labels are only that. The problem is that labels stick and are hard to remove. Then once they have been removed, a new label is then applied by society to fill the void left by the old one. So we have a never-ending battle of sticking and removing, being this, being that, being labeled. I prefer to just BE.

 

I would rather be labeled by my writing, my poetry, or my ideas; but only those that are current, because they represent what I am thinking in the minute, in the moment of writing.  They do not, however, define me.

 

CVs have become identity tags. Would you object to having a metal tag sewn into your DNA? People can now find you on the web, know your life history through your biography and call you on it whenever they want to test its truth or your integrity. Suppose I got the dates wrong, or even the details, will I be labeled a fraudster, a trickster, a fake?

 

Think not on what a person has done, but what they are now or what they want to be. Think not on the qualifications they acquired. They probably do not remember them anymore.  Think not that the person in front of you is still the same person they where 1,2,5 or more years ago.  Apart from the obvious physical changes, we all evolve emotionally, spiritually and mentally. What I believed yesterday may be irrelevant today. Life is changing so rapidly that we can’t stand still, even if we want to.  That CV is a flash photo, a snap shot of a moment in time when you did a particular job, lived a particular life. You may, or may not, have enjoyed it or wanted it, and may have just happened upon it.  Most of the work I did I just “happened upon” or was offered to me because others thought I would make a good job of it. In those days I never thought to ask myself “Is this what I really want? Is this really me? Do I want this on my CV?”

 

What is a CV? Is it really a Curriculum Vitae or Programme of our Life. Does it include everything that we are? Bio-data is probably a better description, because Bio implies some form of Biography, or story with Biological data i.e. blond haired, green eyed, female facilitator of human experiences.

 

So why do I hate writing them? Could it be that I don’t really believe in the labels or the implication that my past history defines what I can do or am allowed to do now? For those of you who came to this site, does it matter where I was educated, with whom I worked or whether I was good at my job? Do I need a CV to write about spiritual enquiry? I think not! As Descartes said, “I think, therefore I am”. So what am I?

 

Suffice it to say that right now, in this moment, I AM A HUMAN BEING WHO CARES and that, Ladies and Gentlemen is my CV or as I prefer to call it my “CARING VOICE” in this life.