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Self-esteem
NamelessRiver
Veteran
Today it occurred to me that perhaps buddhists should be overflowing with self-esteem.
In all schools of Buddhism it is believed that we have this enormous potential for becoming enlightened, and that we are the makers of our own destiny. I don't think many religions give this much credit to a human being, specially in our western society.
Besides that, our religion is a very practical one, and the more we practice the more these tenets reveal themselves as true.
That being said, I wanted to ask you guys how much is your self-esteem linked to what you have learned in Buddhism? Do you ever feel a bit proud of yourself to be a part in all this? Does the that you are the architect of your own destiny move you a bit? That you can become a God? :eek: (ok this one might be too much
) Or a Buddha? That you ARE able to fully develop into someone with a number of enlightened characteristics?
Instead of asking you how does Buddhism make you relate to suffering, I would like to ask: How does Buddhism make you view yourself, in the light of its teachings?
In all schools of Buddhism it is believed that we have this enormous potential for becoming enlightened, and that we are the makers of our own destiny. I don't think many religions give this much credit to a human being, specially in our western society.
Besides that, our religion is a very practical one, and the more we practice the more these tenets reveal themselves as true.
That being said, I wanted to ask you guys how much is your self-esteem linked to what you have learned in Buddhism? Do you ever feel a bit proud of yourself to be a part in all this? Does the that you are the architect of your own destiny move you a bit? That you can become a God? :eek: (ok this one might be too much
) Or a Buddha? That you ARE able to fully develop into someone with a number of enlightened characteristics?Instead of asking you how does Buddhism make you relate to suffering, I would like to ask: How does Buddhism make you view yourself, in the light of its teachings?
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Comments
Just be careful about holding them too tightly; they may trip you up.
Namaste
Does that make sense? Its like not really looking in the mirror to see how beautiful you are, but instead accepting you have enough beauty to connect with and uplift your community effectively... so you might as well sell the mirror and offer some people compassion with the proceeds.
So instead of saying to yourself "oh, I am so good, I am so this, I am so that" you would be saying "I can do this, I can do that"? Is that what you mean?
If you mean I should answer the question Sky, I would have to say I don't hang labels on who I am as much as I did before and that gave me a sense of freedom. A sense of freedom that bothered me because I felt I had to re-evaluate my goals in life and the importance I gave to them. I guess I felt a bit lost until I realized you are never 100% free, life always has you anchored in some obligation, even if it is survival.
I also ended up realizing that I am full of misconceptions and these are the things that keep me trapped, repeating the same mistakes and feeling a lot of bad feelings. When these misconceptions start loosing some of their importance you begin to feel a sense of being able, and being comfortable with your life, and that is what I call self-esteem.
I am not saying I am oblivious to the fact that we live in insecurity, both in the sense of what will happen as well in the sense of who we are, but I think after you have noticed your shortcomings and your qualities, not as an individual but as a human being, there is much to be happy about. Not that we are some sort of marvel superheroes, but we can do much more with our lives than our self-imprisonment leads us to think.
You might not be saying "I can do this" as you'll be busy doing it without the need for a reflection. I think I see the ideas and perceptions you're pointing toward, though. When those misconceptions loosen, you can see that the misconceptions themselves were preventing you from being able, by confusing you into thinking you were unable. Its all quite silly actually.
And we are clearly DC superheroes.