It's all about me

How often in our hectic lives do we stop to think of our viewpoint on important matters in our lives, like for example, our personal interactions? How much time do we devote to the exercise of our own narcissism? I mean, sometimes it seems that we—in the current Facebook era and in times of selfies and such—don't seem to have much time left to ponder over perennial philosophies (i.e. anything that condemns the frivolities of human nature).

For the past few days I have spent a lot of time thinking about some watershed episodes in history that have shaped who we are as social individuals, at least in theory. Great figures lived entire lives of blood, sweat and tears, for the mere purpose of making us understand the very principles of the golden rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." This statement is actually the core of the answer for the first question about personality that exists—it’s is a classic within Christian realms. It is the point of depart for theories aimed at domesticate the instinctive man that have outlived all the perennial philosophies so far, including that of Jesus.

The most intriguing thing is that we are now unable to see that we live caught up in a vicious cycle that almost unconsciously force us to believe that we have evolved…a lot. Yes, in fact we have. Intellectually, we have. Unfortunately, moral principles are not part of academic curricula in top-notch universities around the globe. (My mother used to say that good manners start at home.)

But all is not lost. We have the power to think. Descartes philosophized over this more than three centuries ago; “je pense donc je suis” is really a very positive statement. In fact, the real sense of existence and progress come with the willingness to search for the truth. (Do I know who I am?) A simple look in the mirror will allow us to see parts of our physiological trace. A pure introspective exercise will lead us to the crude reality of our nature: a being made up of body and soul—à propos, when something goes wrong in one end of this symbiotic bond, we have a problem! 

Perfection is not a distinct quality of human race. People do make mistakes. But wisdom dwells in the power to recognize failures and to learn how to forgive. Perhaps forgive oneself first, so one can become capable to forgive others. Gandhi has said once that “the weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is an attribute of the strong.” Maybe it’s time for us to review conceptual terms and ideas when we conjecture over other people demeanors. That might relieve some of the burden we carry for constantly insisting in being the cynosure of all eyes.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

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