Uncloistered

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  “She gazed ahead through a long reach of future days strung together like pearls in a rosary, every one like the others, and all smooth and flawless and innocent, and her heart went up in thankfulness. Outside was the fervid summer afternoon; the air was filled with the sounds of the busy harvest of men and birds and bees; there were halloos, metallic clatterings, sweet calls, and long hummings. Louisa sat, prayerfully numbering her days, like an uncloistered nun.” A New England Nun By Mary E. Wilkins Freeman (1852–1930)

Moral Philosophy: Affectation

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It's an old word, "affectation." We would say simply, "fake." Designed to impress.

Don't put up a false front in what you do, what you say, even how you say it. You were created a certain way to fulfill a specific purpose. Your purpose is not to be artificial. Posing gets you nowhere.

Don't try to be brilliant because you really don't know.
Don't try to be popular because you are not.
Don't try to be magnetic or impose yourself on others.

No two people are alike so there is no need to be like someone else. There is something better, with that in mind. God never intended us to be someone else.

" . . . the first and greatest task of the philosopher is to test and separate appearances, and to act on nothing that is untested." (Epictetus)

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