The Summoned Self

“The Summoned Self” was an article that proposed that there are two ways to think about your life. The first they called the Well-Planned Life.  It is merely about finding your purpose in life when you are younger. Investing a lot of time young, so when you are older you know the path to follow and where your path will lead you to.  Once you come up with your purpose of life, you make the decisions of committing your time and the talents you possess. They had said, that most people with this view of life use near term accomplishments. It’s the more practical approach to life, knowing the outcomes, the costs, and the sources you will use to complete the purpose of life.

            The second way of thinking about life is called the Summoned Life. Life is to be explored, not put together. “Life isn’t a project to be completed; it is an unknowable landscape to be explored” (Brooks). They say with this way of life, you won’t truly understand concepts of life until you yourself have been through them or are engaged with them. People with this thinking style are more skeptical. They believe that one presentation can be applied to many other circumstances not just one.  The power of having different choices and options to make are the most important features of being human. You must ask yourself questions that are answered by observation and being aware not by planning and numbers. They believe that life comes to a point not when the choice is complete but when life evolves to a much larger purpose and cause.

            Both ways of life are helpful. “The first vision is more American. The second vision is more common elsewhere” (Brooks). However both visions of life are useful to each person when trying to live a considered life style.