For some, self-examination can be revealing and painful.
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To watch others is good fun, In the city where I live, there is a coffee shop with massive windows where you can sit with your coffee (hint: the shop is named after a Roman Emperor,) and watch the world go by. The passers-by can also see you.
Human beings, however, are not as happy to look at ourselves. When you look in the mirror, you see yourself looking back at you. Now depending on how you view yourself, you either see a nice person or a horrible one. Some of us though would rather not look at all.
The emptying out of hate and consciously loving is important.
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C..G. Jung says, “There is no coming to consciousness without pain. People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own soul. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.”
It may well be the reason we don’t want to look at ourselves is to avoid the pain that comes from self-examination; facing our demons, truly forgiving those that trespassed on us in our past, and, we may need to make amends to those we have ourselves reeked havoc on.
As a Catholic, we’re all meant to do this self-examination regularly, then tell someone else (Jesus or a priest) who then forgives our sins. We are then given a penance (a spiritual penicillin) to make amends.
If you are not Catholic, you can speak to your clergy, and if you are not religious, you may talk to your psychiatrist or even a close friend, however, the work of working on our souls, the emptying out of hate and consciously loving is important.
A man who knew this was M.Scott.Peck
“The whole course of human history may depend on a change of heart in one solitary and even humble individual …. For it is in the solitary mind and soul of the individual that the battle between good and evil is waged and ultimately won or lost.”
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Photo: GettyImages
I have the opposite problem. I have nothing whatsoever to feel bad about, when it comes to who I am as a person, or anything I’ve ever done. How I treat people, how much absolute and unwavering integrity I have. I could rave about myself for pages, but I don’t bother keeping track, because others do it for me every single day, and loudly proclaim it all the time. But when I look in the mirror, I’m always taken aback, because in my mind, I know I’m a towering giant of a superhero, but physically, I see the exact opposite.… Read more »