Maria Popova

We are matter, trembling with the longing for meaning.

And whether we know it or not, we're constantly making it with every little choice.

Everything we do is an attempt at meaning.

Otherwise, we wouldn't be doing it.

I think all of these things are a kind of performance of personality.

And I'm much more interested in what's beneath.

That, you know, religions have called the soul.

I think that's a little problematic as a kind of religious concept, as a non-religious person.

But as a conceptual container, there is something to be said for a thing that is the essence of a person that remains that way.

I mean, personality is the performance of the soul.

And I think there are varying degrees of authenticity with which it can be done.

I was thinking recently about the people in my life that I most love who are very different from each other and what they do with their lives and their age and every variety of variable is very different.

And I thought, oh, I get it.

The one common denominator is that they are entirely themselves in every situation.

They're not contextual modulators of personality in order to suit some sort of external expectation.

And I think that is a kind of way of leading with the soul and not the self.

It's interesting.

Integrity, the word, shares a root with integer.

Integer.

Well, also same, integral.