aureon

The aureon is the imagined self a man wishes were true. Not who he is, but who he would like to believe himself to be. Formed of traits selected through admiration, shame, vanity, and imitation, the aureon is no coherent whole — it is a private fiction, shaped without scrutiny and revised without notice.

Yet from its earliest formation, the aureon does not rest. It watches. It judges. It demands that the man rise to meet its image, and despises him for failing. What does not please it is cast out — buried, denied, twisted beyond recognition. In this way, the aureon becomes the silent architect of the shadow.

No man escapes its grasp. It grows as he grows, speaks when he falters, and mocks him in silence. Its law is aspiration, not conscience. The aureon is neither virtuous nor vicious, noble nor cruel. It is simply that which is desired.