Why “unpretentious” is my highest compliment.

If one is unpretentious, one is not pretending to be someone else.  One is not putting on a haughty stance that’s held up only by the rickety, hidden columns of insecurity.  One is not driven by a ragged thirst for status, or a compulsive need to compete, or an ingrained habit of domination.

An unpretentious person will not mince words, nor use words where none are needed.

An unpretentious person can show up fully, name the reality of his or her experience without shame, or if shame is present, to note it and welcome it into the fold, so that it might wither upon closer inspection.

An unpretentious person does not feel compelled to lie.  There is no need to safeguard an image.  The reputation of an unpretentious person rests on his or her willingness to acknowledge the truth, not on his or her ability to collect adoring, blindly-accepting acolytes.

We can allow ourselves to be held captive by the culture of pretension, the culture of carefully-groomed image, the culture of shiny, pretty lies.  Or we can willfully pierce the illusion.  We can learn to reach, with rapturous love, towards the humble, the down-to-earth, the real, the naked, the unvarnished, the texture of water and earth, the warm fire, the fresh air.