Substance over Form. Secrets, Lies. The Law of Equity.
Backpackers hostel in Oban.
What secrets are you keeping? What lies are you keeping? What is your truth? Are you speaking your truth?
Do you think of how you present yourself professionally? Have you ever thought of yourself as a limited company with a mission statement and brand values?
Who are you versus what you choose to show, and how does this potentially affect you?
This is so important for how you present to other people, who will then interpret your presentation via their own filters. This is so important for your well being. I shall explain.
Oban Harbour.
Looking out over Oban Harbour, evening of Wednesday 16th October.
Substance and Form, Truth and Lies
Substance is what and who we are. This is our raw self, good and bad.
Form is how we present to the world (and believe it or not ourselves.)
Truth is self explanatory as are lies.
The Law of Equity / Jurisprudence
I studied Law at Lancaster University and thoroughly enjoyed it. Left leaning approach and certainly not Black Letter Law which seeks to make Law and Life as based upon rules; very dull and facile if you ask me.
In my second year I had to study Equity as a requirement for the Bar and the Law Society, and also chose to study Jurisprudence as an elective. It opened my mind as to Natural Law versus Man made Law, and the power of Equity, and legendary Judges such as Denning who used it to creat such vehicles as the Constructive Trust.
Point is I learnt about Substance and Form via the Equitable Maxim of Equity looks to Intent rather than Form
I am now going to copy from:
https://mcmahonsolicitors.ie/maxims-of-equity
Why? Because they beautifully explain the history of the Courts of Equity and Equity’s Maxims, one of which is the aforementioned Intent rather than Form.
Based on my legal philosophy, especially in the dangerous age of Social Media I suggest you take yourself back to basics and ask the following questions.
Who am I?
What do I believe in and stand for?
What is my purpose?
If I were a business, what would be my mission statement? What’s my Substance.
Is there a dichotomy, a plain discrepancy between my Substance and Form? Form is how I view myself and how others view me.
If there is discrepancy, you will be subject to inner turmoil and spiritual malaise. To present against your true Substance is hard, hard work. And people I suspect at times will see through this. And to be see through is to lose trust and connection. Frighteningly we can also lose connection with self.
But it might be the case you have to look to your very Substance. And slowly but surely change how you tick - and this is hard. Your Form (how you present) is undoubtedly an output of Substance.
Oban Harbour looking out to the island of Kerrera.
Are you will to take a risk and alter “you” and your “environment”? This is a photo taken last night of Oban at dusk. My wife and I have chosen to change where we live. We are also working on ourselves, and how we present.
What does this mean for me?
You have two options.
You can present who you really are, be who you are, showing all imperfections. Substance. You can actually drop the word “present” as it is artifice. Just be. I’ll come back to this.
You can “present” to the world, which is okay since we all wear character hats or personas. Whether son, daughter, mother, employee and so on.
But be authentic and true to your Substance. Your Form should reflect your very Substance. This creates connection to self, to other, and inner peace.
With point 2. You need to understand that each person is determined by genetics, biology, nurture and environment and will interpret you via their own “filters”.
You can alter your Substance! What you believe in, who you are. It is not easy with age. But as I’ve learnt it is doable. Why live a life that’s not you? Especially when feeling you must fit in.
Be Equitable to yourself and Society.
View from our house in Tobermory.
Freedom from Form (masking myself for people, thinking that’s what they want) has resulted in my having time to savour life. Like drowning in this evening view from the bedroom of our house in Tobermory.
Substance over Form
I’m learning that for a variety of reasons, I’ve spent much of my life focusing on form rather than substance. My focus has been on having my hair done perfectly, wearing the right clothes, having my makeup applied perfectly, living in the right place, furnishing it with the right furniture, working at the right job, and having the right man. Form, rather than substance, has controlled my behavior in many areas of my life. Now, I’m finally getting to the truth. It’s substance that counts. — ANONYMOUS
There is nothing wrong in wanting to look our best. Whether we are striving to create a self, a relationship, or a life, we need to have some solid ideas about what we want that to look like.
Form gives us a place to begin. But for many of us, form has been a substitute for substance. We may have focused on form to compensate for feeling afraid or feeling inferior. We may have focused on form because we didn’t know how to focus on substance. Form is the outline; substance is what fills it in. We fill in the outline of ourselves by being authentic; we fill in the outline of our life by showing up for life and participating to the best of our ability.
Now, in recovery, we’re learning to pay attention to how things work and feel, not just to what they look like.
Today, I will focus on substance in my life. I will fill in the lines of myself with a real person—me. I will concentrate on the substance of my relationships, rather than what they look like. I will focus on the real workings of my life, instead of the trappings.
Panoramic photo of Oban Harbour.