What is a Life Theme? A Look at the Life of Ruth Bader Ginsburg

As just the second woman to be sworn into the highest court in the land, it’s no wonder that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg once described herself as a “flaming feminist.” She has spent her life swimming upstream against the flow of the status quo and indeed seems to have been born with an innate sense of justice, as well as an inborn drive to seek, study and dispense it. And her Life theme tells us why.

So, what is a Life Theme?

A life theme is the overarching story of your life. Determined by the time of your birth, your life theme is a collection of the driving factors that make up the very basis of who you are and why you might think, act, and feel the way that you do.

What is a Life Theme with regard to Ruth Bader Ginsburg?

Ginsburg was born into the Life Theme of the Garden of Eden. This Life Theme is one that requires a great deal of balance. People born into this Life Theme are blessed with a keen receptiveness to the full spectrum of emotional experiences. So, in order for people with this Life Theme to really thrive, they must balance that emotional experience with practicality. She might feel the emotions of a case deeply, but in order to operate successfully, she must not become too emotionally invested in the outcome. And we see this play out throughout her life in a form of her measured resolve.

It is her coolness in the face of resistance, the understated style with which she has been able to withstand and surpass the blowhards, “mansplainers” and outright misogynists who have stood in her way—without breaking a sweat—that has earned her the nickname “The Notorious R.B.G.”

Ginsburg was drawn to law right from the start. And right from the start, it was clear she was a gifted student. After graduating from high school at just fifteen years old, she then moved on to Cornell University, where she graduated first in her class with a degree in government.

From there she moved on to Harvard Law School—where she was one of just 9 women in a class of 500. Then she went on to Columbia Law School, where she once again graduated first in her class.

A Capable Woman

Despite her clear aptitude for—and dedication to—law and justice, Ginsburg has always pursued her dreams in a measured way. She was always careful to preserve her strength for the right moment, always aware of the inhospitable terrain that she, as an exceedingly intelligent and highly capable woman in a man’s world, had to navigate.

We can see a key example of this calculated awareness in the way she handled her early career. When she was just 21, she applied for a job at the Social Security Office which came with the relatively high rank of GS-5. However, when she told them that she was pregnant, she was offered a much lower position, essentially that of a typist, which came with the lowly rank of GS-2.

She was also informed that once she actually had the baby, she would lose her job altogether.

Ginsburg did not let this injustice dissuade her from pursuing her vocation. Nor did she get discouraged when Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter rejected her application because she was a woman.

There are many women who would’ve forcefully protested the misogyny behind her many setbacks, but that was never Ginsburg’s way.

She dismissed these slights as mere facts of the time in which she was living. She knew all the while that she would reach her summit. And she knew that when she did, she wouldn’t gloat, or hold onto resentment. Instead, she would just simply leave the naysayers behind to look up at her from down in the foothills.