Forced Devotion

Perhaps, Unless I Give Myself Away

[Series 1]
Forced Devotion

One day, this title came to me with unexpected force.
It felt impossible to ignore.
For several days, it stayed with me, pressing itself into my thoughts.
Eventually, I decided to hold on to it and begin writing.
I didn’t know where to start, or how.
Still, I chose to begin.

When we feel that devotion is being demanded of us—or when it is genuinely forced upon us—I wonder:
Is there not, somewhere within us, the ability to refuse?
To resist?
To choose not to give ourselves away, even under pressure?
Nothing can truly destroy or steal what is uniquely ours.
Not our essence.
Not even our thoughts.
They cannot belong to someone else.
They cannot be taken by manipulation, nor broken at another’s convenience.
To give ourselves over to be damaged,
to allow ourselves to be controlled,
to be dragged into ruin—
none of this can truly happen unless, deep within, we allow it.

When devotion is forced, have we really lost our sense of self?
Or does it only appear so on the surface?
From the outside, the two may look the same.
But inwardly, they are entirely different.
My sense of self has no reason to be bound to another.
The self belongs to the individual alone.
It is not something an imperfect human being can ever own.
This is what we call existence.
Because my existence cannot belong to someone else,
even in moments when it seems—physically, outwardly—as though something has been taken from me,
I still retain my true self, intact.
Even if it looks as though I have been damaged by force,
if I do not give myself away,
then it is not destruction—
only the threat of it.

There is a life force that does not go out.
In some ways, it reminds me of that.
Life always tries to take root.
Bean sprouts grow in dark jars.
Wild grass clings to stones and moss.
Plants push their way through cracks in asphalt.
Yet human life cannot be described by the body alone.
Within the body lives a soul.
A mind capable of thought.
And an unseen, personal space we call the heart.
Together, this is what we call life.
Simply because we are human.

*Original photos by You&Me Art Place