The Pseudo Self III --- Let the Journey Begin

Ever tried, ever failed, no matter. Try again, fail again, fail better.

These lines are taken from the play "Waiting for Godot" by Samuel Beckett. This was the first work I understood in the first year of my M.A. English, and I feel no shame to say that I was one of the average students of literature. Yes, I was. All that changed me are my mistakes. Always remember — your best friend and teacher is your last mistake. That's why the name of my first blog is The Journey of My Mistakes. Nothing to defend. No mask.

~ Sudhir Singh

We are continuing the Pseudo Self series, and today I wish to talk about our small self, which we mistakenly consider ourselves to be. We always pretend to be successful, though we are not. It can never embrace failure. So it crafts fake success. It prefers to be in a safe group because there it feels safe, however, it is not safe either.

As I told you in the previous part, "A Pseudo Self can never be creative, because creativity needs an original Self."

But today's generation doesn't know about creativity because it requires courage — courage to bleed on paper, courage to be misunderstood. So the fake self makes a small move. To hide its own shadow, it projects its own fear onto others.

That person is insecure. This person is not competent. That person is weak and frightened, and so on.

But in the deep down, the small self itself is incompetent, and to feel safe, it projects its own flaws onto others.

Yes, it's the safest way.

But here comes the darkest part.

It never stops here. People dominated by the small self gang up against those who show them a mirror. Such whole people don't show the mirror knowingly. But when they see a person who has become whole with his or her existence, s/he unknowingly show them mirror.

How?

Because the whole person never seeks the group's approval, never seeks validation, never wishes to be in the spotlight, and this very nature terrifies them.

1. How can that person be so contented?

2. What does that person have which we don't have?

3. We know he is fake.

4. If not fake, then he is insecure or inefficient.

Now they are just projecting their own self onto him, and this is the mirroring. A person dominated by the pseudo self can be very dangerous for all. So, let's start our journey towards our origin. Let not to be fake. Yes, it's tough. I know it is. But not impossible. 

Embrace your weaknesses. Wear it like a crown. Wear it like armor.

I will meet you again in Part four. Till then, keep learning, keep improving.

Let the journey begin.