You are Your Own Worst Enemy
Philosophers and psychologists have often proclaimed that you are your own worst enemy. At first thought, you may think this is rubbish. Most of us will fight tooth-and-nail to protect ourselves and our precious egos.
But if you look at yourself at a deeper level, you may see something different.
Try to look beyond your physical appearances. Look beyond your bank accounts, your possessions and the titles you have gathered. Deep inside every one of us, we may find another `self’ that is vulnerable, fearful and insecure. This fearful and insecure `self’ makes a lot of effort to boost our egos by reacting to the people and things happening around us. This vulnerable ego lives by reacting, comparing, and judging other people to reassure itself constantly of its worth. It does not think about its own motives and intentions of its negative actions. It only knows how to rationalize and justifies its negative actions in order to appear good in the eyes of other people. By means of `downward comparison’, it is filled with inward joy and satisfaction to see others make blunders and stumble in life. This is what the great teachers of the past have taught us- to be aware of our self-righteousness. To be trapped in the mindset of `self-righteousness’ is to inflict great damage on our own spiritual self-development. In this sense, that is the reason why every one of us is our own worst enemy. Nobody can do greater damage to yourself than your own self-righteousness and your own ego. Ironically, your `enemies’ can be your great benefactors because they are the ones who by highlighting your own mistakes, have enlarged the room for your own personal improvement.
Be aware that you do not take part in the process of spreading the gossips and slanders.
Don’t be dragged down by the gossips by living a life to prove that they are right about your life. Just let the gossips and slanders go away by themselves.
We can only become better human beings by living a life of goodness, compassion and love. That is the essence of the teachings of Islam, Buddhism, Christianity and other great religious traditions. Remember that the shame caused by slanders or gossips or any other causes, is an alien negative emotion. We are not born with shame.
Shame is like a malignant virus that comes into our lives through our negative experiences in the past, or slanders of other people.
