Self-awareness
Is necessary for serving an ideal
June 4th 2014
It is better to behave well, but behaving badly is not the most serious thing. What is serious is not being aware of it. We meet people who undeniably have a high ideal of justice, generosity, dedication. But the fact that they have an ideal does not necessarily mean they are able to achieve it.
Those who fail to see they are behaving contrary to their ideal eventually become enmeshed in endless complexities. They encounter failure, they are rejected by others and they don’t know why. They think they are irreproachable, and they are convinced that others should approve of them, admire them even. So they are confused by what is happening to them, and because they have no self-awareness they imagine the whole world is in league against them, which has a very negative effect on their thoughts and feelings. They rebel, and in their rebellion they gradually lose the qualities they had wanted to place at the service of their ideal. And all because, quite simply, they refuse to admit that behaving in accordance with their ideal is much more difficult than they imagined, and they are incapable of seeing themselves as they really are. So, to be able to live up to your ideal, you have to begin by being self-aware.